Adelanto mayor, wife charged with theft

The Adelanto Little League could always count on sparklers and Piccolo Petes as money-makers during its annual Fourth of July fundraiser.

But the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office alleges that Adelanto Mayor Jim Nehmens and his wife, Kelly, used the fireworks sales to line their own pockets.

They were arrested Tuesday, each charged with three counts of grand theft by embezzlement. If convicted, they could each face nine years in prison.

Jim Nehmens, 50, was president of the league the last nine years, and his 44-year-old wife served as a board member.

The husband and wife allegedly stole more than $20,000 from 2004 to 2006, mostly from the fireworks sale, according to the district attorney’s office.

“Mr. Nehmens was at work and his wife was at home when the arrests were made,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. John Goritz. “We did conduct the search warrant earlier, so they knew they were under investigation. I’m not sure to what degree they were surprised by the arrests, but I do believe we have a sufficiently strong case.”

Bail was set at $60,000 each, and arraignment is expected soon.

Goritz said the couple have two children.

Attempts to reach the pair for comment were unsuccessful.

In an interview with the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin last year, Jim Nehmens said the fireworks sale was an important part of the Little League’s income.

“What we make enables us to keep registration fees low,” he said. “Without fireworks, fees would be at least double.”

According to court records, the couple filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2000.

Adelanto, tucked up against the former George Air Force Base about 65 miles northeast of Los Angeles, is one of seven cities in San Bernardino County allowed to sell “safe-and-sane” fireworks. The others are Chino, Colton, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Rialto and San Bernardino.

A district attorney’s public integrity unit searched the Nehmenses’ home in October after a citizen complaint about the couple, Goritz said. After investigators confiscated several documents and records, an official investigation was opened.

Still, news of the arrest came as a shock to city officials.

“This actually relates to allegations of improprieties when he was in charge of the Little League,” City Manager James Hart said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the city or his position as mayor. Knowing him the way we do, people are more surprised than anything.”

Hart added that unless Jim Nehmens was convicted of a crime, he probably would remain mayor.

Jim Nehmens, a Mount San Antonio College graduate, works for an electrical construction firm. He was reelected mayor last year after first being elected to the City Council in 2000. His term expires in 2010.

Although the fast-growing town appears headed toward an economic uptick with the recent announcement of plans to build a SuperTarget store, this isn’t the first time it has experienced political turmoil.

Former Councilwoman Zoila Meyer was forced to step down two years ago after authorities determined that she was not a U.S. citizen. She later pleaded no contest to voting fraud, a misdemeanor.

In 1997, Philip Genaway, a former Adelanto police chief, was sentenced to a four-year prison term for embezzling nearly $10,000 from the department’s canine unit. That same year, two officers went to prison for beating two handcuffed suspects and forcing one to lick his blood off the police station floor.

Also, in the 1990s, Adelanto voters elected Tom Thornburg as mayor, even though he had served one year in prison on federal drug-smuggling charges stemming from a plot to ship marijuana by speedboat from St. Martin Island to Puerto Rico in 1973.

*

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com