Ex-Fair Chief Surrenders for Old Theft : Lancaster: C. W. Adams disappeared after his 1990 conviction. He was running a county fair--and doing a great job--in Missouri.

Former Antelope Valley Fair Manager C. W. Adams, wanted since May for failing to serve a jail sentence for a 1990 grand theft conviction, surrendered Thursday in Lancaster and was ordered to immediately begin a 60-day jail sentence.

Adams, who worked recently as manager of the Boone County Fair in Missouri, was taken into custody after Antelope Municipal Judge Frank Jackson sentenced him to the original 30 days he failed to serve plus an additional 30 days, prosecutors said.

Adams had managed the Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival from 1984 until he resigned under fire in April, 1989. In March, 1990, Adams pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor grand theft charge that he used fair materials to build a fence at his house and fair funds to buy tires for his cars.

Jackson sentenced Adams to 30 days in jail on the charge in June, 1990, but allowed him to remain free and gave him until December to present proof that he had served the time at a jail of his choice. However, Adams never provided the proof and the judge issued an arrest warrant in May.

Stephen L. Cooley, head of the district attorney’s Lancaster office, said authorities learned Adams was in Missouri last week because of an article in an Antelope Valley newspaper. Prosecutors threatened to extradite Adams and file new charges against him unless he returned.

However, Adams’ jail stay in Los Angeles apparently won’t cost him his job in Boone County, located about halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City.

Fair officials there, claiming Adams has done a “terrific job” since starting this spring, have given him a 45-day administrative leave from his job.

Since inmates in the Los Angeles County jail system, especially those convicted of misdemeanor offenses, often serve only half their sentences before being released, Adams could be back in Missouri before his leave runs out.

“For the most part, I think the members of the fair board are behind him,” said Boone County fair board member Ray Easley.

After several years of losing money, Easley said, the county fair turned a profit and drew larger crowds this year, with Adams’ help.