Ex-Assemblyman Indicted For Alleged BART Coffee-Shop Fraud

OAKLAND, CA – A former state assemblyman has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Oakland on charges of an investment fraud scheme related to plans for coffee shops at BART stations.

Terrence Goggin, 77, now a lawyer in San Francisco, was a Democratic assemblyman from San Bernardino from 1974 to 1985.

He was charged under seal in a superseding indictment on Sept. 13 with four counts of wire fraud and nine counts of laundering the money he allegedly fraudulently gained from investors.

The charges were unsealed after Goggin's initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Kandis Westmore in Oakland on Monday. He will return to Westmore's court on Dec. 5 for identification of a defense lawyer, arraignment and a detention hearing.

According to the indictment, Goggin formed a company called Metropolitan Coffee and Concession Co. to build Peet's Coffee & Tea shops at BART stations.

The indictment alleges that after building shops at four stations, Goggin solicited $685,000 from two investment companies to build two more at the San Francisco Civic Center and Balboa Park stations. He allegedly spent the money instead on personal expenses, a project in New York and gifts to a girlfriend in Thailand.

If convicted, Goggin could face up to 20 years in prison for each fraud count and 10 years for each money laundering count, plus payments of fines and restitution.

The Sept. 13 superseding indictment replaced a three-count indictment issued on Sept. 6.

The four coffee shops previously built by Goggin were at the Downtown Berkeley, Pittsburg/Bay Point, San Francisco Embarcadero and San Francisco Montgomery stations.

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