Elys to Stand Trial Over Expense Accounts : Courts: The judge says there is enough evidence to charge the college district trustee’s wife with embezzlement.

A judge on Tuesday ordered Ventura Community College District Trustee James T. (Tom) Ely and his wife, Ingrid, to stand trial on charges that they conspired to steal district funds by padding expense accounts.

Ventura County Municipal Judge Thomas J. Hutchins ruled that there is enough evidence to support the 31-count criminal complaint against the couple, who allegedly padded their district expense accounts with more than $15,000 in improper claims between July, 1988, and January, 1990.

The judge also volunteered his view that there is enough evidence to charge Ingrid Ely with embezzlement, an offense she has not been charged with. The prosecutor said she is considering whether to add an embezzlement charge.

The Elys are scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 16 in Superior Court.

As he left the courtroom Tuesday, Tom Ely said he and his wife welcome the trial as a chance to prove their innocence.

He said if Hutchins had not bound them over for trial, the couple would have faced renewed investigation and another arrest.

Ingrid Ely declined to comment, but her lawyer, Willard Wiksell, said he was very disappointed that Hutchins had bound his client over for trial on the two counts--conspiracy to commit grand theft--that she has been charged with.

Wiksell had argued that there was no evidence of any agreement between Ingrid and her husband to commit grand theft.

The complaint also charges Tom Ely with two counts of conspiracy to commit grand theft, eight counts of embezzlement and 19 counts of making fraudulent claims.

Hutchins also said of Ingrid Ely, “I believe there’s probable cause to hold her for embezzlement of funds from Moorpark College, as well as conspiracy.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson said she has not decided whether to add an embezzlement charge to the complaint against Ingrid Ely--a move that Nelson said would not require another preliminary hearing.

Hutchins’ ruling ended a five-day preliminary hearing that involved 120 exhibits but only four witnesses. Because the passage of Proposition 115 in June allows hearsay evidence at preliminary hearings, Nelson was able to question three college district officials and her own investigator about the dozens of expense reports and receipts. Otherwise, she would have been required to bring in hoteliers and restaurateurs from across the country to testify about each item.

Nelson will have to call those witnesses at the trial.

During closing arguments Tuesday, Nelson said Tom Ely inflated his claims for mileage and parking fee reimbursement. She said he used the district’s American Express account to charge meals at conventions where meals had already been paid for by the district.

As for the conspiracy allegations, Nelson called the Elys “a couple that is joined at the hip.”

She recounted testimony that in September, 1989, Tom Ely used the district’s American Express card to charge airline tickets for the couple to a community college trustees convention in Louisville, Ky.

Meanwhile, Ingrid Ely, former president of the Moorpark College Alumni Assn., received a travel advance of $975 from the college to cover the tickets and other expenses.

“Both of them knew full well that they were not honestly accounting to the taxpayers the money they were spending,” Nelson said. “They were working in concert in this scheme to maximize their cash any way they could.”

But Tom Ely’s attorney argued that Nelson had presented no evidence of any conspiracy between the couple and had not proved that his client intended to commit a crime.

Defense attorney James M. Farley said, “There has been no evidence in this courtroom that what Mr. Ely did was not in complete conformity with district practice.”

Tom Ely made mistakes on his expense reports, and may have misestimated mileage on district business, Farley said. He added, “What we’re talking about is pennies.”