Former California assemblyman sentenced to prison for coffee shop investment scheme

Federal authorities on Wednesday sentenced 79-year-old former California Assemblyman Terrance “Terry” Goggin to prison for a money laundering scheme that involved coffee shops along Bay Area Rapid Transit lines.

Goggin of Dunsmuir, served in the state Assembly as a Democrat from 1974 to 1985.

This week, U.S. District Judge James Donato sentenced Goggin to one year and one day of prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

Goggin is currently out of custody and is ordered to surrender on June 28 to begin his prison term. He has also been ordered to pay $685,000 in restitution.

In December 2019, Goggin pled guilty to the federal charge of money laundering.

Between 2007 and 2014, Goggin admitted that he solicited investor money for his company, Metropolitan Coffee and Concession Company, to build Peet’s Coffee retail centers, including two centers that were supposed to be built at the Civic Center and Balboa Park BART stations, according to the Department of Justice.

A group of four private equity investors invested $585,000 in the Civic Center project in 2013, and an individual invested $100,000 in the Balboa Park project in the same year. But instead of using the funds for the coffee shop projects at the BART stops, Goggin had planned to use the funds for other purposes.

“He also failed to provide the investors with accurate information about the strained relationship between [his company] and BART and about the state of [his company] finances,” the Department of Justice said in a release.

The sentencing follows a previous indictment from 2018, when a grand jury charged Goggin with four counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money laundering.

This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 11:35 AM.