Possible Theft of Funds for Education Is Investigated : Fraud: The county grand jury is looking into reports that employees pocketed money that was meant to pay for career-enhancing college courses.

The Ventura County grand jury is investigating whether county employees pocketed public funds intended to be used to pay for career-enhancing college courses.

So far, more than a dozen individuals, some in management positions with the county, may have used the programs improperly, sources familiar with the investigation told The Times Friday.

In one instance, a manager who received several thousand dollars to attend a college program never set foot in a classroom. In another, public funds were used to pay for a karate class, sources said.

About $15,000 to $20,000 was not used for tuition or books and should have been returned to the county, the sources said. The budgets for the two programs total nearly $1 million.

“You have a well-meaning program which has been subject to abuse,” said a county official who requested anonymity. “Currently, there are no internal controls to stop the abuse.”

At a minimum, the sources said that the grand jury, whose sessions are secret, could call for an overhaul of the way the county administers its career enhancement programs.

The Ventura County district attorney is assisting the grand jury in its inquiry, sources said. However, no one from the county prosecutor’s office would comment.

The alleged abuses were uncovered during a random audit directed by Norman R. Hawkes, the county’s auditor-controller. Hawkes could not be reached for comment. But Thomas O. Mahon, the assistant auditor, said Friday that the audit began last fall and that it is nearing an end. He declined to discuss the audit’s findings.

The programs in question are the county’s $500,000 textbook and tuition reimbursement program and a career development program whose budget is $388,000. The textbook-tuition program pays management employees up to $3,000 annually to cover educational expenses; the career development program pays up to $300 per unit for college courses.

Fewer than a third of the county’s 6,500 employees have taken advantage of the education programs, officials said.

Employees are required to use up the benefits from the first program before they are eligible for the second one. Sources said, however, that some individuals have “double-dipped”--that is, received cash from both programs at the same time.

Generally, Mahon said, the audit provoked questions of whether the county has “adequate controls” in place and “who’s watching the store.”

Ronald W. Komers, the county personnel director and supervisor of the career development program, said Friday he initiated his own audit after being informed of Hawkes’ preliminary findings.

He said his review of the programs also turned up instances of money not being returned. But he characterized those incidents as inadvertent rather than intentional and said some of the money had already been repaid after those who received it were asked to do so.

“The people who owed us money are paying us back,” Komers said. “People know they have an obligation.”

He said some individuals had seemingly legitimate reasons for not returning the money immediately, such as personal problems that may have hindered an immediate refund.

Next Tuesday, Komers is to recommend to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors that changes be made in the programs to reduce their cost. Komers also plans to urge changes in the programs to tighten fiscal controls and to “reduce potential for overpayments.”

The textbook and tuition program was established many years ago and allows the heads of the county’s 23 agencies and departments to provide managers with up to $3,000 annually, and lesser amounts to others, for college expenses.

Komers is proposing to slash the maximum amount to $500 a year and to have the money paid out as reimbursements after an employee proves a course has been completed.

If an employee uses up his or her textbook-tuition money, an employee can turn to the career development program, begun in 1989, which pays up to $300 per college unit. Under Komers’ proposal, college unit reimbursement would be reduced to $200 and an employee could not spend more than $300 a year on textbooks.