D.A. Decides Not to Charge 4 Psychiatrists : Moonlighting: Prosecutors are unable to prove the state hospital doctors were double dipping by working at county facilities.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office has decided not to file criminal charges against four Camarillo State Hospital psychiatrists who were accused of moonlighting at county psychiatric clinics while they were also being paid to work at the state facility.

After an 11-month investigation, Deputy Dist. Atty. James P. Cloninger determined that there was no way to prove that psychiatrists were double dipping by working at county-run out-patient facilities while also being paid by the state, according to an office memorandum.

“The conclusion that no crimes were committed by these residents does not imply that they performed their job duties for the state adequately,” Cloninger wrote in the memo. “It is extremely unlikely that these residents were really doing their state jobs full time.”

The memo said it appears that the psychiatrists, who are part of the hospital’s residency program, simply took time off to work for the county and called it “compensatory time off,” with no scrutiny by the state or county to determine if they were entitled to be away from their state duties.

But because of the “extreme laxity” of supervision at Camarillo State Hospital, a prosecutor could not assemble a paper trail to warrant fraud charges against psychiatrists Ali Azizi, Daisy DeMaranville, Beth Milford and Sofia Pamplona.

“I spent a long time on that thing,” Cloninger said Friday. “It is one of the cases you kept going back through. I wanted to prove it, but the evidence was just not there.”

Pamplona greeted the district attorney’s decision as “good news” and emphasized that the psychiatrists had done nothing wrong. “We had to have permission from both sides” to work at the county facilities, she said. Azizi, DeMaranville and Milford could not be reached for comment.

The district attorney’s office began its investigation of the doctors last May, after a source at the hospital called to complain that the psychiatrists were not fulfilling their state duties.

Hospital officials also launched their own internal investigation on the matter. They now keep extensive records on how state employees spend their time.

“The whole process has been tightened up to make sure it’s more accurate,” said Myron Dimmett, spokesman for Camarillo State Hospital.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the State Department of Developmental Services in Sacramento are trying to determine if any disciplinary actions should be taken against the resident psychiatrists or hospital supervisors, according to a spokesman. A decision is expected by next month.

Cloninger found that “in many instances it has been shown that the residents were putting in hours for pay at these county clinics, during days and times when one would normally expect them to have been on the job as part of their duties with the state hospital.”

For example, one psychiatrist averaged more than 64 hours per month working at a county outpatient psychiatric clinic at county pay--about $44 an hour--during times that conflict with a conventional work day, according to the report.

But the psychiatrists told investigators that they did not cheat the state of any work time. “They maintained that they had used compensatory time off, due them from working extra duty for the state, to make time available through the day to work for the county,” Cloninger wrote.

The psychiatrists also asserted that their supervisor, Robert Moebius, had permitted them to keep track of their own time, according to the memo.

“They were autonomous employees who appeared to be able to set their own hours to grant themselves time off whenever they determined,” Cloninger wrote.

Moebius could not be reached for comment Friday. But according to the report, he told Cloninger that he has permitted the psychiatrists to accrue comp time, including allowing them to take off for hours they spent traveling to and from work assignments in Los Angeles County.

Cloninger also criticized the county officials for not checking to make sure the psychiatrists were working on “their own time.”

Randy Feltman, director of the county mental health department, said county officials have no responsibility to keep track of state employees. But, he said, “In the future, we will have much closer communication with the supervisors at Camarillo State Hospital.”