Stephen Cloobeck walked into the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station on Tuesday morning and turned himself in. By early afternoon he was out, $300,000 bond posted, charges filed.
The charges aren’t minor. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office hit Cloobeck with three felony counts of trying to dissuade witnesses from testifying in a criminal case against his fiancée — by force or threat, according to the complaint. A fourth count, a misdemeanor, alleges he made harassing phone calls to another person tied to the same case. Jail records show he was booked at 11:19 a.m.
The fiancée is Adva Lavie, who goes by Mia Ventura online. She’s a social media influencer and former Penthouse model facing her own felony charges. Prosecutors say she used dating apps to meet older, wealthy men and then burglarized their homes.
Cloobeck is 64, the founder of timeshare giant Diamond Resorts International, and until last November he was running for governor of California on his own dime. He dropped out and endorsed Eric Swalwell.
Cloobeck had described an unusually close relationship with Swalwell, calling him a “little brother” in an interview with Politico. Swalwell had stayed at Cloobeck’s Malibu home multiple times over eight years, including once after the sexual assault allegations surfaced. Cloobeck told NBC Los Angeles he cut ties with him days later. Swalwell suspended his campaign in April and resigned from Congress. His name stays on the June 2 primary ballot.
Cloobeck’s lawyer didn’t return calls. Cloobeck didn’t respond to messages.
Why do men fall for walking sex dolls?
What a crook. Thank God he got nowhere near the Governor’s office.
Big deal. We’ve had 8 years of the biggest crook around.
Ronald Reagan is long gone and dead. Agreed, he was a lousy governor, closed the sanitariums, cut education spending, but move on.