U.S. Enters Probe of Christian Aid Group : Grand Jury Looks Into Fund Distribution by Ventura-Based Charity

A federal grand jury has begun to subpoena witnesses in a broadening investigation of the embattled International Christian Aid organization and its leader, L. Joe Bass, it was learned Thursday.

Sources close to the secret grand jury probe have confirmed that more than a dozen former employees of ICA and its related organizations have been asked to testify. Those known to have been subpoenaed range from top executives like one-time North American Director Peter Horne to clerks like Brenda Sembrano, who once worked in the purchasing department.

Comment was not available from ICA on whether any current employees have been asked to appear before the jury. Federal officials--as is common in such cases--have instructed those subpoenaed not to discuss the probe.

The jury is expected to begin hearing testimony this month.

Fund-raising activities of the Camarillo-based evangelical organization, which reported raising $33 million in donations in 1984, have been under investigation by the Ventura County district attorney’s office for nearly three years. In recent weeks that probe was expanded to include state and federal agencies.

Investigators have declined comment on the case, but they are known to be looking into allegations that ICA has raised millions of dollars in donations through nationwide appeals for aid to starving refugees but failed to deliver as advertised.

Horne has alleged that no more than 20%--”and probably much less”--of the money ICA collects is actually spent on relief. Other former ICA employees have placed their estimates as low as 5%. Bass said 61% of donations are spent on aid.

The investigation--headed by a three-man team from the U.S. Postal Service--picked up steam after reports from Addis Ababa that despite emotional ICA appeals focused on the starving people of Ethiopia, no ICA aid of any kind has been distributed to the needy there. Bass said that the reports are misleading, that food, medical supplies and a vehicle to transport them have arrived in Ethiopia.

The Postal Service probe focuses on whether ICA’s graphic appeals--featuring grim photographs of emaciated children and glowing reports of the relief organization’s accomplishments--may have constituted mail fraud.

Sources say the ICA investigation began in 1982, when a woman who had donated money to sponsor a refugee child complained to the Ventura County district attorney’s office that the money was not being spent on the child.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury assigned two investigators to the case, eventually concluding that he needed to trace the money and other assets of ICA around the world--”and that is beyond our resources and investigative capabilities.”

Bass told The Times he has nothing to fear from the investigation.

“The claims will disappear under professional, trained scrutiny,” he said. “There will be no criminality found.”