Neal Denies Illegal Use of Funds

City Councilman Ed Neal denied Friday he had asked the city to reimburse him for travel expenses for his girlfriend when he went to Washington last month for a luncheon with President Reagan.

Neal’s denial came after an investigator for the district attorney’s said Thursday that he had completed his investigation of Neal’s submission of $1,136 in expenses for which the councilman received reimbursement from the city. The investigator, Augustin DeLaRosa, told the Escondido Times-Advocate that $450 of Neal’s reimbursement request apparently was for his companion’s airline ticket.

“I have my Diner’s Club card receipt and my bill for $900,” Neal said Friday, claiming he billed the city only for one round-trip airline ticket, his own.

Neal wrote a $1,136 check to the city Thursday, he said, as repayment for the entire Washington trip expenses. He criticized DeLaRosa for “trying to tell us what our (city) policy is,” on travel expenses, saying the issue was one for the Vista City Council to decide.

The Times-Advocate, which requested the investigation by the district attorney into Neal’s travel expenses, quoted DeLaRosa as saying of Neal: “He charged $1,136, and then it turned out that $450 was used to pay for another ticket --that is a crime, that is theft.”

DeLaRosa could not be reached for comment but Steve Casey, spokesman for Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller, said the investigation “obviously involves the possible misuse of public funds and theft of some sort.”

A decision on whether charges will be filed against Neal is expected next week, Casey said.