‘Queen of Bingo’ Is Defended : Charity: Ex-employees say they never saw or heard talk about volunteers being paid.

Fighting to keep her city bingo license, Edith Ryan, the Woodland Hills-based “Queen of Bingo,” Thursday summoned witnesses who suggested that those who accused her of illegal activities were trying to cover up their own pilfering.

At issue in the hearing at Los Angeles City Hall is whether Ryan illegally paid volunteers to operate the games at Identity Inc. Identity, founded by the 64-year-old Ryan, operates a cavernous bingo hall on De Soto Avenue that has grossed more than $29 million since 1982, more than any other bingo operation in the city.

The city is seeking to revoke Ryan’s license, based on the testimony of four former volunteers who said they were paid from $100 to $300 a night by Ryan to work the games. Under state law, bingo games must be run by volunteers and all money after expenses and prizes must be donated to charity.

Ryan’s defense witnesses--three employees and two Los Angeles police sergeants who formerly provided security at the games--all denied they had ever seen or heard talk about any volunteers being paid.

They also testified that several of the four--described by the witnesses as a clique hostile to Ryan and other administrators--had been under constant surveillance for as long as five years because of suspicion that they were involved in theft.

Sgt. Woodrow L. Baca, a longtime guard at Identity, said he saw one of the four place a $100 bill under a stack of $1 bills that was about to be delivered to another of the four accusers.

Baca described it as a “very deliberate act” and said the volunteer reacted with “staged surprise” when he confronted her.

Sgt. Thomas Seccombe, testifying that after years of watching one of the four, he “saw out of the corner of my eye that she placed something in her purse shortly after placing a stack of $100 bills on Ryan’s desk.”

Both police officers, who moonlighted at Identity for years until the Los Angeles Police Department halted the practice six months ago, said they regarded the acts they observed as “extremely suspicious,” but did not make arrests because the evidence was not strong enough.

Frances Frederick, Identity’s bookkeeper, said she suspected that the four were responsible for several instances in which “there were checks listed on our deposit slips and when it got to the bank, they weren’t there.”

Assistant City Atty. Byron Boeckman, who is prosecuting the case, said that Ryan and her attorney, Mitchell W. Egers, “are trying to discredit my witnesses’ testimony about being paid by calling them thieves, even though they have no proof.”

Ryan is scheduled to testify when the hearing, which began in October, resumes March 21.

Hearing officer John B. Rice will make a recommendation on Ryan’s license to Robert Burns, general manager of the city’s Social Services Department, who will rule on the license. Ryan could appeal an unfavorable ruling to Superior Court.