COUNTYWIDE : Ely Expenses Were Not Always Checked

A Ventura County Community College District clerk testified Wednesday that she did not always double-check Trustee James (Tom) Ely’s expense accounts and district credit card bills because she did not have time.

Brenda Griego said Ely would turn in all his expense forms at the end of the fiscal year instead of after each trip. She did not have the time to go through the documents carefully, she testified.

Ely and his wife, Ingrid, are on trial for allegedly conspiring to steal $15,000 in district funds by padding expense accounts between April, 1988, and January, 1990.

Ely is accused of deducting the cost of meals from his travel advances even though he had charged the food on his district American Express card. On one day, for example, the Elys allegedly charged the district for nine meals, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Nelson.

The Elys are also accused of charging the district for travel even though Moorpark College had advanced Ingrid Ely more than $3,000 for expenses.

Griego testified that the only time she questioned Tom Ely’s expense account, she was told by Vice Chancellor Tom Kimberling to put through the paperwork anyway.

“I would talk to Mr. Kimberling about Mr. Ely’s meal expenses,” Griego testified. “He would say, ‘Charge them the way Mr. Ely had them.’ ”

In one case, Ely had spent $95 on a meal while he and his wife were delayed in Denver on their way back from a convention in Washington.

Griego also testified that some of the money that Ely owed the district for trips had apparently been offset by the trustee’s claim that the district owed him money for mileage--a key point that Ely’s attorneys plan to make when they present their defense.