Charges of Fraud at Port District Probed

The San Diego County district attorney is investigating allegations that the Port District was billed for non-existent goods by a supplier, which then used port money to buy television sets and other products for port employees.

Steve Casey, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, confirmed Thursday that the investigation is under way, but declined to elaborate.

A source familiar with the case, however, said a company that regularly does business with the San Diego Unified Port District is suspected of billing the district for supplies the agency did not receive or inflating the price of material that was delivered.

The firm, which was not named, then allegedly used the money received from the port to buy refrigerators, videocassette recorders, television sets and other household goods that were given to employees of the Port District. In addition, the company reportedly paid for body work on the cars of some port employees.

Although the alleged scheme reportedly had been taking place for several years, port officials apparently did not discover discrepancies in paper work caused by the non-existent supplies until just a few weeks ago, according to the source.

Don Nay, port director, contacted the district attorney last month and asked that an investigation be undertaken. Nay did not return phone calls Thursday from The Times.

Casey said the probe was launched about three weeks ago, but would not speculate on whether any charges might be filed. “We’re still at quiet a preliminary stage,” he said.

He refused to name the company under suspicion or say what sort of materials it supplies to the port. Casey also refused to speculate about what the firm’s motives may have been. He would not say who has been questioned so far, but said the probe is being handled by a single investigator in the district attorney’s office.

Other sources, who asked not to be named, said several employees involved in purchasing supplies for the port have been questioned.

Louis Wolfsheimer, a port commissioner, said he and his colleagues were informed of the investigation by Nay “a couple of weeks ago” so that “we wouldn’t read about it first in the newspapers.”

Wolfsheimer said Nay mentioned that one employee and one supply firm were being investigated, but that the port director did not elaborate further.

“I really don’t know anything about it,” Wolfsheimer said. “I’m very concerned, however, if these allegations turn out to be true.”