Embezzlement Inquiry Targets Wagering Center in Lancaster

Authorities said Friday they are conducting a criminal investigation into the suspected embezzlement of at least $25,000 from the satellite wagering facility at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds in Lancaster, the latest in a series of problems there.

Fair officials said Jack Farmer, the supervisor of the publicly operated wagering center, was placed on paid leave last month because of the inquiry.

But Los Angeles County investigators would not say whether Farmer is a suspect, and he could not be reached for comment.

The investigation is being conducted by the Sheriff’s Department along with the district attorney’s office and auditors from the state Department of Food and Agriculture, officials from the three agencies confirmed. The fair is a state-run operation.

In the past three years, the Antelope Valley Fair has seen its former manager convicted of grand theft involving fair funds and materials, its former wagering supervisor convicted of stealing about $3,000 from the center, and a state audit fault the fair for sloppy bookkeeping.

Current Fair Manager Jim Pacini said the wagering center, due to celebrate its fourth anniversary next week, took in more than $23 million in bets last year from about 100,000 patrons who could wager on horse races at Hollywood Park and elsewhere.

Pacini said a fair employee first noticed a discrepancy of several hundred dollars in one account at the wagering center during a routine check in February.

That led to the state audit, completed earlier this month, which found $25,000 missing over a two-year period, Pacini said.

Other than Farmer, no internal action has been taken against fair employees as a result of the investigation, “although I would anticipate more happening,” Pacini said.

Less than a dozen people work at the center and only five or six had access to the missing money, Pacini said.

“We are not sure who is responsible for the disappearance of these funds,” fair spokeswoman Sheila Burnette said. She added that Pacini had placed Farmer on leave only because he was in charge of the center during the period of the suspected theft.

Sheriff’s officials and county prosecutors would not say how many people are under investigation. “We are exploring all possibilities. To say the investigation is confined to just one person, I’m not going to comment,” Sheriff’s Detective Jerry Bluff said.

Fair officials said the money is missing from the wagering center’s “com-check” system that allows patrons to obtain cash advances against their credit cards.

That system still is in use, although fair officials said they plan to replace it this year with an automated teller machine.

Despite the fair’s history of problems, Pacini said the public should take some comfort that the fair itself uncovered the latest episode. “We’re the ones who were in the lead in the whole situation,” said Pacini, who has been the manager of the fair since mid-1989.

Pacini succeeded C.W. Adams, who was manager from 1984 until he resigned under fire in April, 1989.

Adams pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor grand-theft charge in March, 1990.

He was sentenced to 60 days in jail last October after failing to serve his original 30-day sentence.

Gary Lee Williams, the supervisor of the fair’s wagering center from mid-1988 to mid-1989, pleaded no contest in October, 1989, to a charge that he had embezzled up to $3,000 from the center earlier in the year.

He was sentenced to 60 days in County Jail in January, 1990.