Former Manager of Fair Charged in Embezzlement

Felony charges of embezzlement and falsifying accounts of public funds were filed against the former manager of the Antelope Valley Fair in Lancaster Thursday by the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office.

C.W. Adams, 48, who resigned in April after the fair board of directors questioned him about budget irregularities including unpaid debts, was charged with using about $1,200 worth of fair equipment and funds for personal use.

He was also charged with altering records to conceal more than $100,000 worth of unpaid utility bills on the eve of a preliminary state audit in March.

Additionally, the state auditor general’s office is conducting a separate audit that should be complete in about two weeks, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen L. Cooley said. The audit will be reviewed for any information that could lead to further criminal charges, Cooley said. The fair is a public entity under the auspices of the state Department of Agriculture.

Adams denied wrongdoing in interviews with investigators, according to documents. He works for a rodeo in Barstow.

Prosecutors allege that Adams used $700 worth of steel tubing belonging to the fair to construct a wrought-iron fence several hundred feet long at his home in 1986, Cooley said.

In addition, Adams is accused of buying $500 worth of tires for his Jaguar and an all-terrain vehicle and illegally billing the expense to the fair at some point between October, 1988, and February of last year, Deputy Dist. Atty. John A. Portillo said.

When budget irregularities prompted a review by the state Division of Fairs and Expositions in March, 1989, Adams allegedly instructed an employee shortly before the audit to conceal more than $100,000 in unpaid utility bills by deleting records from a computer and removing documents from a file, prosecutors said.

Adams told investigators the fence was not built with fair materials but with tubing left for him at the fair by someone who owed him money, court documents say. He maintained that the purchase of the tires with public money was legitimate because the fair owed him an equivalent amount of reimbursement for work-related travel, the documents say. He also denied falsifying the utility accounts.

Cooley said the explanations were not satisfactory and were not borne out by the evidence.

Adams will be arraigned Feb. 5. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years and four months on the charges. The charge of falsifying public accounts carries an additional penalty of disqualifying the offender from holding public office or state employment in California.