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The Region - News from April 3, 1987

Orange County officials agreed to pay $375,000 to two former political opponents of Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates to settle a lawsuit claiming he used the powers of his office to investigate them for political purposes. Former Central Municipal Judge Bobby D. Youngblood and his close political ally, Pat Bland, filed a federal lawsuit three years ago against both Gates and the county. They said county attorneys came to them last week and asked what it would take to settle the case, set for trial in two weeks. “We said 375 (hundred thousand dollars), and they said ‘You got it,’ ” said plaintiffs’ attorney Michael J. Cisarik. County spokesman John L. Oskins Jr. said the decision to settle the case was “a compromise” and in no way meant the county was admitting any wrongdoing by Gates. Youngblood left the bench last year to oppose Gates and was soundly defeated. Bland, a private investigator, ran unsuccessfully against Gates in 1982.

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