Ely Ordered to Pay $17,156 to Simi Bank : Courts: The commissioner says the community college trustee did not deny that he owed the money.

A Municipal Court commissioner ordered Ventura County Community College Trustee Tom Ely to pay $17,156.59 plus attorney’s fees to Simi Valley Bank for outstanding debts--declining to delay the action Thursday despite Ely’s failure to appear in court.

Commissioner John V. Paventi rejected Ely’s reason for not being able to attend the civil trial in Ventura Municipal Court, which was the result of a lawsuit filed by the bank against Ely and his wife, Ingrid, last January.

Paventi said the Elys had sent letters to the bank’s attorneys asking that the trial be continued because they would be out of town on district business this week.

However, Paventi said, the couple failed to submit a formal request to the court for such action, so he decided to proceed with the trial.

“The defendants failed to appear for no good reason,” Paventi said.

The couple, who declined to comment on the case, are in Burlingame at a conference of the California Assn. of Community Colleges that runs through today.

The bank filed the lawsuit against the Elys on Jan. 31, alleging that, since September, the couple had not made a payment on credit card bills and a personal loan, debts totaling $16,500. The balance of Thursday’s judgment is from interest accrued during the past eight months.

“We will collect in full,” Susan Jay, the attorney representing the bank, said after the court’s ruling. Jay said she did not know how much time Ely would have to pay back the money because attorney’s fees and court costs have yet to be settled.

The bank had originally sought $28,658 in the lawsuit but agreed to settle for the lesser amount before the civil trial. Jay declined to comment on why the bank waived its claim to the additional money.

Paventi said his ruling was based on the fact that the Elys, in a formal response to the lawsuit, did not deny any of the allegations of debt in the complaint.

In the legal document filed earlier this month, the Elys stated that they “had attempted to perform all duties and obligations . . . in an honest and just fashion” and that the entire episode arose from the “conduct of the plaintiff.”

Ely, who is a candidate for a county supervisor’s seat, has been the subject of controversy since it was revealed last month that he had run up gambling debts at Nevada casinos. The Golden Nugget filed a lawsuit against Ely in February over $8,000 in debts.

Ely has said he owes less than $20,000 to various Nevada casinos and is in the process of paying all of them, except the Golden Nugget. He said he and the casino are involved in a dispute over the amount owed.

In addition to the gambling allegations, the district attorney’s office recently began a criminal investigation of Ely for possible misappropriation of district funds after investigators received a copy of an audit of his district expense records.

The Board of Trustees commissioned the audit after learning of Ely’s gambling activities and after a disclosure that he used a district telephone to call casinos and hotels in Las Vegas.

Ely has denied that he charged more than $8,400 in questionable expenses as the audit showed. The audit also listed $6,978 in claims submitted without proper documentation.

Ely has said that the audit was flawed because it did not abide by district travel policies.

The Board of Trustees is expected to take up the matter at a special meeting on Tuesday.