Ely Says He Owes Less Than $20,000 to Nevada Casinos

Trustee Tom Ely of the Ventura County Community College District said Friday that he owes less than $20,000 in gambling debts to various Las Vegas casinos--half the amount that a law enforcement source has alleged.

Ely, 54, of Simi Valley, a candidate for the 4th District county supervisor seat, would not say exactly how much he owes or to whom. “That’s personal and private,” he said.

It was revealed last month that Ely owed $3,000 to the Edgewater Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nev., and that he had been sued in February by the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas over $8,000 in gambling debts.

In addition, a law enforcement source last month told The Times that Ely’s total debt to Nevada casinos was about $40,000, a figure that Ely has described repeatedly in recent weeks as greatly exaggerated.

Ely said Friday he is in the process of paying all of the casinos he owes “except for the Golden Nugget.”

“We have a dispute over the amount,” Ely said. “We’re in the process of determining the appropriate amount.”

Golden Nugget casino officials refused to comment.

Ely, a retired insurance salesman, said Friday that he is “not a millionaire,” but that he is more than able to pay back the money he owes.

In addition to their house, Ely said, he and his wife, Ingrid, own a half-interest in a condominium in Hawaii and recently bought a 1989 Cadillac.

Ely’s comments about his economic well-being contrasted sharply with statements he made in legal documents and in letters addressed to Milton Frank, casino cage manager at the Golden Nugget. They are part of the case file in Las Vegas.

In a letter dated Nov. 1, Ely wrote that he and his wife had been involved in a car accident in January, 1989, in which both suffered back injuries. He said he has paid more than $40,000 for medical expenses and damages because the insurance company has refused to pay. As a result, “we have fallen behind in our obligations, in spite of doing all possible to simply meet living expenses,” Ely wrote.

He wrote that he plans to pay his debt with money he expects to receive from his insurance company.

“If you feel that such forbearance and patience would require a secured interest, a lien can be secured in your name, against the proceeds of the claim,” Ely advised the casino.

In an earlier letter, dated July 31, 1989, Ely apologized to Frank for not being able to meet with him in person to discuss his gambling debts because of his wife’s need to have back surgery.

“I had planned on a trip to your casino, as is my monthly custom, on the last weekend,” Ely wrote. “My wife was rushed into emergency back surgery, as a result of our recent automobile accident, and the trip was obviously impossible.”

Ely again referred to his financial troubles in the formal answer he filed April 3 to the Golden Nugget’s court complaint.

“The defendant prays that the court take judicial notice of the fact that the defendant is indigent, suffering from greatly diminished income and suffering great pain, and is in the position of being unable to represent himself until after June 15 due to corrective surgery” for a slipped disc suffered in the automobile accident, Ely states.

In the same document, Ely states how on one occasion he went to the Golden Nugget with the intention of settling his debts but instead was taken advantage of by the casino. He said at the time that he was under heavy medication for injuries he suffered in the car accident.

“The plaintiffs induced the defendant to stay at their establishment by providing complimentary room, meals and large volumes of alcoholic beverages . . . causing, due to the medical condition, the defendant to be confronted with gaming at a time when the plaintiffs knew, or should have known, of the defendant’s mental state of mind and inability, due to these conditions, to reasonably exercise good judgment.”

Ely on Friday would not comment on the legal document but said that the letters he wrote to Frank accurately reflected his financial condition at the time they were written and that he is no longer in financial trouble.

He said an arbitration hearing regarding his dispute with his insurance company is scheduled for June 8 in Ventura County Municipal Court.

Ely’s comments about his debts came the day after he denied charging $8,400 worth of questionable expenses to the community college district.

The Board of Trustees commissioned an audit of Ely’s financial records three weeks ago after learning of Ely’s alleged gambling activities and after a disclosure that he used district telephones to call hotels and casinos in Las Vegas.

On Thursday, Ely released copies of the audit at a press conference at his home. The report listed $8,422 in questionable expenses and another $6,978 in claims submitted without proper documentation.

Ely became the subject of a criminal investigation last week by the Ventura County district attorney’s office after investigators received a copy of the audit.

Ely said that the audit is flawed because it did not abide by district travel policies and that the district actually owes him $600 for business-related telephone calls he made from his home and car phone.