D.A. Investigates Expenses of Trustee’s Wife : Travel: A report says the head of the Moorpark College alumni group charged $3,100 to the organization for trips.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said Thursday that his office is investigating a report that Ingrid Ely, wife of Ventura County Community College District Trustee Tom Ely, charged more than $3,100 to the Moorpark College Alumni Assn. for trips she took with her husband.

Bradbury said his office recently received a copy of the report and has included it in a criminal investigation of Tom Ely over possible misappropriation of thousands of dollars in district money.

“Yes, it is part of our investigation,” Bradbury said of the expense report. “I believe we became aware of this a little over a week ago.” He would not comment further on the case.

According to the travel report, Ingrid Ely, president of the alumni association, charged about $2,100 to the organization’s account for trips that she took with her husband to community college conventions in 1988 and 1989. In February, she charged the district $975 for a trip with her husband to a convention in Canada.

The association--created to provide academic awards and scholarships to Moorpark College students--spent $1,000 for such purposes over the past two years, the report shows.

Ingrid Ely, in an interview Thursday, said her travel expenses are legitimate and were approved by Moorpark College officials. She said most of the alumni association’s money comes from membership dues, kept in an account at the college.

“I don’t take any money out unless it’s authorized,” she said. “I do not now, nor have I ever, had the authority to write a check, or in any way withdraw funds, from the alumni association account.”

Ely said she helped found the alumni group 10 years ago. Since then, she has volunteered to help organize various student activities for the association, including putting out a newsletter, she said.

“Occasionally, I am called upon to travel for the benefit of the alumni association,” she said. “In those cases, upon proof of benefit, the association will reimburse my expenses.”

The reason more alumni money has not been used for scholarships, she said, is because students have not applied for them. “You can’t give out scholarships if people don’t fill out the applications,” she said.

Greg Kampf, president of the community college board, said the board will ask Moorpark Community College President Stanley Bowers to appear at its meeting Tuesday to discuss Ingrid Ely’s travel expenses. Bowers is on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment.

“We’re extremely concerned,” Kampf said. “We have a lot of questions that need to be answered.”

Trustee Timothy Hirschberg said he was outraged after reviewing the report of Ingrid Ely’s travel expenses.

“I’ve gone through the records and apparently the funds came from the student bookstore profits,” Hirschberg said.

The profits, he said, are “supposed to be earmarked for student activities and scholarships. We’re asking for a full explanation of these expenses.”

Hirschberg said the report raised serious questions about the legitimacy of the alumni association. “I think it was a sham and that it only had one purpose--to fund travel for a trustee’s wife,” Hirschberg said.

Last month, the district attorney’s office launched its criminal investigation of Tom Ely’s district travel expenses after receiving a copy of an audit of his financial records.

The audit found that Ely had charged $8,422 in questionable expenses on business trips that he took during the past three years. The audit also listed another $6,978 in claims submitted without proper documentation.

“On the face, it appears the expenses could be fraudulent, but it could be sloppy bookkeeping,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Nelson, who is handling the case.

Nelson said she plans to look into the possibility that Tom Ely charged the district for the same expenses that the alumni association paid for his wife. Nelson said it could be months before her investigation is completed.

The Board of Trustees commissioned an audit of Tom Ely’s expense records last month after learning that he had amassed large gambling debts and after a disclosure that he used his district telephone to call casinos and hotels in Nevada.

At a special board meeting called Tuesday to discuss the audit, Ely reiterated his contention that the audit was flawed because it did not follow district travel policy.

The board, however, asked Ely to meet with staff to go over the audit line by line to determine if any violations had occurred. A report on the staff review is scheduled to be presented to the board in 30 days.