Ely’s Health Leads to 3rd Delay of Jail Term for Embezzlement

Convicted embezzler James T. (Tom) Ely, suffering from a cancerous tumor in his face, was granted another delay in serving his one-year jail sentence Friday so attorneys can review his medical records.

Prosecutor Carol J. Nelson told Ventura County Superior Judge Lawrence Storch that she needed several weeks to subpoena and review the files from Ely’s doctors at UCLA, where he is undergoing cancer treatment.

Storch ordered Ely and his wife, Ingrid, to appear in court April 3.

The medical-related delay is the third since the Elys were convicted in June of stealing $15,000 from the Ventura County Community College District by padding expense accounts between April, 1988, and January, 1990.

Shortly after the conviction, Ely was diagnosed as having cancer in his cheek, eye socket and jaw.

He is undergoing radiation treatment, his attorney said.

Nelson said she had hoped the former community college district trustee would have begun serving his sentence by now, but the court has been unable to obtain clear information about Ely’s condition from his doctors.

“Up until now, I have not had a chance to see the medical records,” Nelson said after the hearing. “All I keep hearing is that he has the most common cancer in the United States. It would seem to me he could have cancer and go to jail at the same time.”

In addition to jail time, Ely was sentenced to pay $14,415 in restitution and to serve six years’ probation.

Ingrid Ely was placed on five years’ probation, ordered to pay about $2,500 in restitution and sentenced to serve 500 hours of community service.

On Friday, Storch also agreed to stay Ingrid Ely’s sentence until her husband’s medical files are reviewed, so she can continue to assist Tom Ely.

Nelson said she is anxious to review the UCLA files because Ely’s attorney, James M. Farley, may have exaggerated his client’s condition.

But Farley said Ely is very ill.

“I don’t make up cancer,” he joked. “I do heart attacks and psychiatric illnesses. I’ve never done cancer, you see, because cancer you can check on.”

Farley said he welcomes Nelson’s request to see the medical files.

“It will prove what we have been saying all along,” he said. “I know this guy has got a serious cancer condition and needs treatment.”

Tom and Ingrid Ely walked slowly from the courtroom Friday after hearing Storch’s decision.

The couple, looking upset, said nothing to reporters as they left.

“Tom is very depressed,” Farley said. “The tumor has grown . . . in the right cheek area.”

Farley said it would be difficult for Ely to serve the court sentence, given his current condition.

“You can do it,” he said. “But it’s not an easy thing to have someone transported down to the doctors at UCLA by the county sheriff. It puts a strain on their manpower; it puts a strain on the client.”

But Nelson disagreed.

“The court system does not operate for the convenience of its own personnel, for the convenience of defendants or for the convenience of attorneys,” she said. “I don’t mean to be minimizing it, but if they cut off his whole face he could still go to jail. . . . We simply need to know when they are going to finish the surgery.”

She said that at the next hearing she will urge Storch to set a date to remand Ely to custody.

“We’re not trying to deny him treatment,” Nelson said. “We are just trying to keep him from denying us justice.”