COUNTYWIDE : Ely Inquiry Costs District $30,000
Ventura County Community College District officials spent at least $30,000 investigating Trustee James T. (Tom) Ely--twice what the veteran trustee is accused of bilking from the district.
Chancellor Barbara Derryberry said Tuesday that the district spent $25,000 on legal fees and other costs related to the investigation. An independent audit of Ely’s travel expenses cost the district close to $5,000.
She said the entire cost is higher than $30,000 because some of the expenses are incalculable. For instance, district employees have spent time accommodating requests from the district attorney’s office, and district board members have worked to revamp travel procedures and to draft a new policy for censuring trustees.
Derryberry said the district has finished its investigation of Ely “unless something else surfaces.”
Ely is scheduled to go to trial May 20 in Ventura County Superior Court on charges that he bilked the district out of $15,000 by padding travel, food and lodging expenses between July, 1988, and January, 1990. His wife, Ingrid Ely, goes to trial the same day on a charge of conspiracy. Both have pleaded not guilty.
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