Food, Wine, and Lies: Craig Case Embezzlement Trial Begins

For decades, Craig A. Case was a man about town. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, he was a private investigator for wealthy clients and ran a successful security company, the Case Detective Agency. His father was a police officer.

Case served on a number of boards and commissions, including for the Santa Barbara Police Foundation, Santa Barbara City College, and United Boys & Girls Club. And he appeared every weekend on his self-produced TV show, The Inn Crowd, where he hobnobbed with big names in the food and wine scene.

All that came to a sudden end in July 2023 when Case was arrested and charged with embezzling nearly $700,000 from a former client. He’s been in jail ever since. The alleged victim, 94-year-old Constance McCormick Fearing, has since died. 

Fearing was a member and heiress of the McCormick family, an American dynasty of business and civic leaders who were the original owners of Montecito’s Riven Rock estate. Born in France but educated in Santa Barbara, Fearing was a major collector of African art and donated so many pieces to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) that it built and named a library after her and her husband.

“Constance McCormick Fearing was a champion for the arts during her near century of life,” said former SBMA director Larry Feinberg in a recent tribute. “Although she will be missed, her legacy will live on through her generous offerings.” At the time of her death, Fearing lived at Oakhaven Estate in Romero Canyon. 

This Friday, dressed in a brown sportcoat and sitting in a wheelchair, Case appeared in court for the opening arguments of his trial. He faces more than four dozen felony counts of grand theft, financial elder abuse, and money laundering. Case used his mother’s bank accounts to wash the stolen money, prosecutors allege. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, arguing the money was given to him freely and willingly.

Authorities had previously offered Case a plea deal of 12 years in prison, of which he would have only served about a third, given sentencing guidelines for white-collar crimes. But Case, 76 years old, rejected the offer and is taking his chances with a jury. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

“The evidence will show that Mr. Case is nothing more than a predator, a manipulator, and a fraud,” said prosecutor Brian Cota. “By the end of this trial, you will know the real Craig Case.”

Cota told the jury that Case gained access to Fearing’s finances through her longtime bookkeeper and assistant, Nancy Coglizer. It was April 2018 and Coglizer had recently been granted power of attorney over Fearing’s affairs. Case had just completed some security work at the estate.

Coglizer, however, was struggling with significant mental health and substance abuse issues, Cota said. She’d lost a close family member, was in a troubled marriage, and was fighting depression, “all of which was exacerbated by an alcohol problem,” he said. 

“Mr. Case was happy to provide a shoulder to cry on,” he continued. The two became close. “Ms. Coglizer saw Mr. Case as a friend, and perhaps something more,” Cota said, making an oblique reference to their romantic relationship. “He saw the perfect mark.”

Before long, Case asked Coglizer for what he described as a “short-term loan” for his security company that he would pay back immediately. “He held himself out to be a successful businessman with several local TV shows,” Cota said. “But that was all a carefully-crafted illusion.”

What Case didn’t tell Coglizer, or anyone else, was at the time he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes to the IRS. He’d been stealing payroll taxes from his employees, Cota claimed, not filing tax returns, and had defaulted on a large loan from a business partner, the winemaker Roger Bower.

The IRS ordered a levy on Case’s income, “to the tune of $100,000 a year, but that didn’t make a dent in what he owned,” Cota said. “Had Ms. Coglizer known the true financial ruin that was Mr. Case, both personally and professionally, she would not have given him any of that money.”

Instead, for the first time in her 19 years as Fearing’s trusted assistant, Coglizer dipped into her boss’s accounts, and she wrote Case two $10,000 checks. “With her mind clouded by depression and alcohol, and believing the lies that Mr. Case told her, she justified in her head the breach of Ms. Fearing’s trust,” Cota said. Fearing was always a generous person and would want her to help a friend in need, Coglizer convinced herself.

Over the next two years, Coglizer wrote Case a total of 104 checks totaling $690,000. Case cashed every one and did not pay any of the money back. On one occasion, he allegedly drove down to a Malibu rehab center where Coglizer was staying for her signature.

The scheme came to an end when a person who was taking over Fearing’s power of attorney from Coglizer discovered the missing funds. Coglizer briefly tried to cover her tracks, but before long, she confessed to police and became the star witness against Case.

Coglizer ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiracy and financial elder abuse charges, and now faces nine years in prison. She made an open plea to the court, meaning she didn’t strike a deal with prosecutors in exchange for her testimony. “She was promised no immunity, no leniency, nothing,” Cota explained to the jury. Instead, a judge will decide Coglizer’s fate at the end of the trial.

“Case took advantage of Coglizer’s diagnosed mental health and substance abuse issues so that she would steal for him,” Cota argued. “Make no mistake, it’s not an excuse that she had those issues. That’s evidenced by the fact that she took responsibility and pled guilty in this case.” She’s very much accountable for her actions, Cota went on, “and I think you’ll see the remorse that she has when she takes the stand.”

Coglizer is scheduled to testify Monday, and the trial is expected to continue through the next two weeks.