Elys Arrested Over Expenses on Trips : Investigation: The college district trustee and his wife are taken to jail after a 4 1/2-month inquiry.

Investigators on Tuesday arrested Ventura County Community College District Trustee James (Tom) Ely and his wife, Ingrid, on suspicion of bilking the district out of thousands of dollars in improper trip expenses.

The Elys were arrested at their Simi Valley house about 7:15 p.m. just after they pulled into the driveway in their 1989 Cadillac.

The shaken-looking couple said little as they were arrested by district attorney’s office investigators, in contrast to the confidence they displayed earlier during the 4 1/2-month investigation.

Prosecutors filed a criminal indictment late Tuesday afternoon charging the couple with two counts each of conspiracy to commit grand theft.

Tom Ely was also charged with eight counts of embezzlement and 19 counts of making a false or fraudulent claim. If convicted on all counts, Tom Ely faces up to six years in state prison and Ingrid Ely up to three years and eight months in prison.

“This is stupid,” Tom Ely said as investigators handcuffed him while a dozen reporters and photographers looked on. Asked if he was guilty, Ely said, “No. I’m not going to talk about it.”

The Elys were being booked and fingerprinted at the main Ventura County Jail in Ventura late Tuesday.

The couple’s arrest capped an investigation by Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson and county investigators into expense accounts that Tom Ely submitted to the district.

Tom Ely has often pooh-poohed the investigation, saying the prosecutors never understood the financial records they were examining.

But the 28-page complaint alleges that the Elys conspired to misappropriate district funds on a series of junkets they took between July 22, 1988, and Sept. 17, 1989, to places as varied as Sacramento; Louisville, Ky.; and Vancouver, British Columbia. It also lists more than $12,000 in questionable expenses for which the district reimbursed the Elys after those trips.

The conspiracy charges stem from allegations that the couple incurred questionable expenses on trips to conventions and seminars.

The couple allegedly double-billed the district for the expenses at times--with Tom Ely submitting expense vouchers to the district and his wife submitting expenses to the Moorpark College Alumni Assn.

Ingrid Ely founded the association in 1979. But she only served as an officer of the group in January, 1989, and has never worked as an employee or trustee of the district or Moorpark College, the complaint says.

At one point, the Elys flew to Canada, ostensibly to attend the 20th Annual Convention of the Assn. of Community College Trustees, the complaint says.

Tom Ely bought two airline tickets at $263.25 each to Vancouver for the convention, which was held Sept. 20-23.

On Sept. 5, he obtained a travel advance of $334 from the district for out-of-pocket expenses he anticipated, the complaint says.

On Sept. 12, Ingrid Ely got a travel advance of $975 from Moorpark College President Stanley Bowers, the complaint says. Her request said the money would pay for air fare, hotel and meals, and she attached a copy of the airline ticket her husband had bought with the district American Express card. She did not tell Bowers that the district had already paid for the ticket, the complaint says.

According to the complaint, the Elys checked into the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver on Sept. 16--four days before the conference began--and checked out Sept. 23, after charging $1,605.89 to the district American Express card. But on Sept. 17, they also checked into the Empress Hot1701585007charging $168.16 on the district credit card, the complaint says.

In addition, Tom Ely allegedly charged $294.35 worth of goods at the Edinburgh Tartan Gift Shop in Victoria to the card, which he later submitted on an expense report without explanation, the complaint says.

The embezzlement charges stem from allegations that Tom Ely made false claims for expenses and fraudulently obtained advances of money for trips to Las Vegas; Louisville; Sacramento; Washington, D.C.; Monterey; Vancouver; and Santa Clara.

And the charges of making false and fraudulent claims were prompted by allegedly bogus expense accounts he submitted to the district between April 19, 1988, and Feb. 6, 1990, for reimbursement on those trips and others, the complaint says.