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I stow to turn over evidence, as re- Modesto, .:ipon pool Ymns dip irrtu merger- ; q The j d law. The udge,in so many words,told prosecutors to shape up or else. By RICHARD T.ELos Angeles lawyer Mark Gera. eee srArr WRITER RADA a gos made the most of The opportunity to become bigger U his time in the spot. and better is behind a deal that has light,claiming that 800 The merged two Modesto-area swimming pages of documents he Peterson pool construction firms into one of had received the day Fite• the country's largest in-ground pool before—including fo- Page A-18 builders. rensic tests and poten- The owners of Aqua Pool & Spa of tial witnesses'names—could help Ripon and The Vintage Co.of Modesto t y' , clear his client. said Friday that they have merged ^;` Grandstanding by a media-savvy and will do business under the name t p^ & lawyer?Or hiding the ball by prose. Aqua Pool&Spa. cutors? The two companies had combined Maybe a little of both,some legal sales of $40 million in 2003. That N, # observers said. would have made the new Aqua Pool "If I was the judge,I would really & Spa the No. 6 pool builder in the land on (prosecutors)," said John nation,according to Pool&Spa News T« 1 Virga,a Sacramento defense attor- magazine. ney. Withholding evidence—even Ao_ua Pool&Spa is forecasting sales s innocently—is"more than irritat. of$50 million for 2004 and expects the ing; it's their obligation and theirTED BENSON/THE BEE merger to create 50jobs in the next 12 Bob Campana, le who ran The Vintage Co. for 27 years, has joined forces d osecuto tor1D ve Hargrisa said eesjand an annual payroll has of$12 mf 1- with Richard To wend, owner of Aqua Pool & Spa, to form one pool and Wednesday that the district attor- p y landscape compa y with an estimated$50 million in revenue in 2004.The two ney's office had only recently re- SEE BACK PAGE, MER66i are shown at Vintage's design studio in no,i'h Modesto on Friday. SEE BACK PAGE, PETERSON