Grand Jury Sets Probe of Official’s Travel Bill

The San Diego County Grand Jury will conduct a criminal investigation into whether Councilman Ed Neal falsified city travel vouchers when he flew to Washington and met with President Reagan last month, the district attorney’s office said Thursday.

The subject of the grand jury probe is whether Neal claimed his girlfriend’s plane ticket to Washington as part of his own trip expenses.

Several city officials have been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury on Aug. 7. The testimony is expected to take just one day, said district attorney’s office spokesman Steve Casey.

In the wake of harsh criticism that the trip was political and not for city business, Neal has since reimbursed the city the $1,136 cost of the trip.

A subsequent investigation by the district attorney’s office showed that Neal’s bills included a $450 airline ticket used by his girlfriend, who accompanied him on the trip, investigator Augustin DeLaRosa told the Escondido Times-Advocate last week.

And on Thursday, Allan J. Preckel, chief of the district attorney’s special operations division, which focuses on government malfeasance, white-collar crime and the like, announced that his office would present evidence to the grand jury.

“The grand jury is hearing the case under its criminal investigation authority, not under its authority to conduct ‘civil watchdog’ inquiries,” Preckel said.

Neal denied the charge Thursday. “Everything I submitted was (divided) in half,” he said. Earlier he had said he reimbursed the Washington trip money to the city because, “Basically, I got tired of all the fighting and bickering and fuss caused by this thing. I know people are going to think I’m admitting I’m wrong, but I’m not. I just want to put this thing behind us and stop the negative image it’s causing the city.”

Neal had maintained that he made the trip “as a city official” and that he conducted business on behalf of the city, although critics said the trip was motivated by personal and politically partisan interests. While in Washington, he attended a lunch hosted by President Reagan for former Democrats who have switched to the Republican Party.

Mayor Mike Flick on Thursday said, “I don’t think any of us would wish that (district attorney’s investigation) would happen to anyone you work with, but that’s part of our system.”

The brouhaha over the trip “has upset the flow of things here,” Flick said.

If indicted, Neal could be charged with grand theft, a felony, or with falsifying travel vouchers, which can be treated either as a felony or misdemeanor, officials said.