Trustee Accused of Threat Over Expenses : Trial: Chancellor testifies Tom Ely told her he would release a tape of her remarks about college officials if he was not reimbursed for disputed billings.

Ventura County Community College District Trustee James (Tom) Ely threatened to release a tape of Chancellor Barbara Derryberry’s “private” remarks about top district officials unless she paid Ely’s disputed expenses, the chancellor testified Tuesday.

Derryberry told Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch that Ely had sent her two letters last year threatening to release the videotape of a conversation Derryberry had with Ely and his wife, Ingrid, while they were sightseeing during a trip to Louisville, Ky., in 1988.

Storch is expected to decide this morning whether to allow the jury, which was asked to leave the courtroom during Derryberry’s testimony, to consider the chancellor’s allegations.

The Elys are accused of conspiring to steal more than $15,000 in district funds by padding their district expense accounts between April, 1988, and January, 1990.

Although Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Nelson and Ely’s attorneys, James Farley and Willard P. Wiksell, said they knew of the videotape, they said they were unaware of Derryberry’s claim that Ely had written threatening letters.

After the hearing, Farley expressed frustration over Derryberry’s surprise allegation.

“It’s like the district has been hiding the ball,” he said. Farley questioned whether the letters exist.

Storch has ordered the district chancellor to bring the letters to court this morning. Derryberry said she could produce the second letter, but she said she no longer had the first, which she testified was the more threatening of the two documents.

Derryberry said she made the remarks while Ingrid Ely was videotaping a sightseeing trip the three took while they were in Louisville for a convention.

The chancellor testified that she could not remember exactly what she had said, but said the conversation was “very private and it was not something I wanted exposed.” She testified that she might have been discussing former Chancellor Alfred Fernandez and college presidents in the district.

She said she didn’t realize that she was being taped, and asked Ely to destroy it when she found out. “He promised me he would erase it when he got home,” Derryberry said.

Two years later, Derryberry testified, Ely told her that he still had the videotape and would release it if she failed to reimburse him for disputed expenses, such as travel and phone bills. She said she told Ely that she did not have the authority to release the money to him because the district had already launched an investigation into the Elys’ expenses.

Shortly thereafter, Derryberry said, she began receiving calls from reporters asking about the videotape.

After the hearing, Tom Ely said Derryberry’s remarks were barely audible on the tape and thus could not be used against her anyway. He denied writing threatening letters to the chancellor.

Also during testimony Tuesday, Derryberry told the jury that she had asked Ely and Vice Chancellor Tom Kimberling if it was acceptable for the trustee to have charged meals to the district in excess of his daily travel allotment.

“Mr. Kimberling and Tom Ely told me it was appropriate for governing board members to spend in excess of the (meal) rate,” Derryberry said. “I had no reason to doubt that they were telling me what the policy was.

“Later, after it became an issue, we researched all the board benefit books and tapes . . . and we were not able to find any board-approved language allowing more than the rate of $6, $9, $22” for breakfast, lunch and dinner while on trips, she said.

Tom Ely is charged with more than two dozen counts of fraud and embezzlement and one count of conspiracy. Ingrid Ely is charged with one count of grand theft, one count of conspiracy and one count of embezzlement.

If convicted, Tom Ely could spend up to six years in prison and Ingrid Ely up to three years in prison.

The trial is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. today.