Slain O.C. Man No Stranger to Legal Woes

LEMON HEIGHTS — A 49-year-old businessman, shot to death along with his mother before their rented hilltop mansion was set afire, had a history of high living, spent time in federal prison and was under investigation for alleged fraudulent use of credit cards, authorities said Thursday.

John Tyler Hancock VI and his 77-year-old mother, Helen Bauerle Hancock, bled to death after being shot several times Wednesday in the exclusive community where they had lived for about six months, according to Orange County sheriff’s investigators.

There are no known suspects in the case, and authorities are searching for a missing 1995 red Ford Mustang with a personalized Arizona license plate--ASHLEY--belonging to Hancock’s teenage daughter.

Law enforcement officials would not say whether they believe the killings are related to John Hancock’s current legal problems or troubled past, which included numerous lawsuits and a conviction in Orange County in 1988 for mail fraud that brought a three-year federal prison sentence.

“At this point, we are not going to eliminate any possibilities,” Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said. “We are looking at all aspects of his relationships with business, personal and family interests. We have not eliminated anyone as a suspect at this point, and we don’t know what the motive is at this point.”

Wilkerson would not say what kind of weapon was used in the shootings.

It took investigators much of the day Thursday to determine that mother and son had died from gunshots rather than having burned to death. Neighbors had reported hearing screams and gunfire before seeing the flames.

Hancock was found in the backyard; his mother’s body was in the kitchen of the 4,200-square-foot home. The fire caused more than $1 million in damage to the home and its contents, Orange County fire officials said Thursday.

A person close to the family said John Hancock’s long history of trouble with the law may have finally caught up with him.

The source, who spoke on condition of not being identified, said, “It would appear to me that John was in some sort of trouble again and that, unfortunately, his mother was a victim. She was a fine lady, very upright and hard-working.”

Helen Hancock had leashed the posh home at 11301 Dannen Drive after moving from Northridge, where a daughter lives.

“She moved because she had earthquake damage,” the source said. “I can’t imagine anyone having trouble with Helen. This is really tragic. I was never really fond of John and all of the crazy things he had gotten himself into.”

Before joining his mother in the exclusive Lemon Heights community, John Hancock had been living in Parker, Ariz., located in La Paz County about 17 miles south of Lake Havasu on the California border. There, he was an owner of several condominium units at the Sandpiper Resorts complex.

La Paz County Sheriff’s Det. Mike Nuss said Thursday he was investigating whether Hancock had used an American Express credit card account in the name of Douglas McDonald, who was a tenant in the Sandpiper Resort development, and ran up $40,000 in bills.

On April 8, Arizona sheriff’s authorities asked the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to help them serve a search warrant on Hancock at his new Lemon Heights residence, where it is unclear where the money came from to pay the rent.

Three days later, the two agencies appeared at the front door to look for documents and other possible evidence connected with alleged use of the credit card.

Hancock had allegedly charged more than $40,000 on the card between November 1994 and November 1995, according to authorities. He had opened a joint account using both his and McDonald’s names.

McDonald did not become aware of the situation until Hancock, his landlord, stopped paying the credit card bill and McDonald was told he owed $19,000, according to information contained in the search warrant. McDonald then contacted sheriff’s authorities.

Hancock was being investigated for allegedly misusing other credit cards, investigators said.

Nuss declined to comment on the case and would not speculate on whether the deaths were related to his investigation.

“I don’t want to give out any information that might compromise our investigation,” Nuss said. “Orange County has things they need to do and this is a case that is very sensitive to both of us.”

The fraud allegation under investigation in Arizona is not the only time Hancock has been accused of a financial scam.

Hancock was a Newport Beach businessman in the 1980s who lived in high style while spending $2.5 million that he ostensibly borrowed for his telephone answering service, according to court records. He was sentenced in May 1988 to three years in prison for swindling his lenders.

He had borrowed money from four lending institutions between 1983 and 1985, saying he needed funds to buy equipment for his now-defunct American Communications Network. Hancock and his then-wife, Sandra Lee Perry, were sued by Illinois-based First National Bank of Blue Island, and the other by General Electric Credit Corp.

But Hancock made few payments and after being forced into bankruptcy in 1985, journeyed to Aspen, Colo., and used the money to finance a posh lifestyle that included a big home and society parties.

He claimed to be a direct descendant of Declaration of Independence signer John Hancock when he rented a deluxe Aspen home, where he entertained lavishly, regularly appearing in the society columns.

When Hancock was sentenced in 1988, Federal Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez said: “Mr. Hancock has engaged in a massive fraud on lending institutions. . . . He is a person who feels the ends justify whatever means are necessary. . . . If he can’t do it by being honest, he’ll do it by being dishonest.”

The judge ordered Hancock to repay the money as a condition of his probation, which followed his prison term.

There were other crimes as well.

According to court documents, in 1977, Hancock was convicted of assault, stemming from a marital dispute. Another conviction that year was on a price-fixing charge.

He clearly made some enemies and had domestic troubles.

Hancock was involved in a custody dispute with his former wife over their daughter, Ashley, according to court records. Hancock’s sister, Barbara Dourian, told authorities her brother and mother had moved to Lemon Heights while they were trying to gain custody of Ashley.

The Hancocks have another child, John Hancock VII, also 15, who told reporters on Wednesday that the family had been receiving threatening phone calls in recent months.

Times staff writers Anna Cekola and Lorenza Munoz and correspondents Jeff Kass and Lori Haycox contributed to this report.

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Homicide Investigation

Sheriff’s authorities have determined that John Tyler Hancock VI and his mother, Helen Bauerle Hancock, were shot to death before their rented home was set afire. Hancock was being investigated by Arizona authorities for alleged credit card fraud. Officials would not say whether the killings were related to his legal problems.

Legal Tangles

John Hancock and his former wife, Sandra Lee Perry, were no strangers to legal troubles. Here are a few of the suits filed in Orange County Superior Court:

* July 1985--General Electric Credit Corp. sued American Communications Network, owned by Hancock and Perry. Suit alleged that the bank is owed more than $600,000 in loans that were supposed to be used to purchase computer telecommunications equipment. Instead, suit said, the couple made “bogus transactions” from dummy companies they set up.

* June 1985--Chicago-based First National Bank of Blue Island sued American Communications Network Inc. alleging that Perry and Hancock misused a $315,000 loan and failed to fully repay it. Included in the lawsuit is a deposition from a process server that Hancock pulled a gun when he served him in a separate case.

* January 1985--San Mateo County Superior Court entered a judgment against Hancock and American Communications Network for about $109,000 on behalf of John W. Baer.

* September 1983--Hancock sued to block Los Angeles Title and Trust Deed Co. from foreclosing on a property he co-owned in San Bernardino County.

Compiled by ANNA CEKOLA and JEFF KASS / For The Times