Manager of the Antelope Valley Fair to Leave Post : Resignation: Officials say there’s no link between Pacini’s departure and an embezzlement case, but others say he was ousted.

The manager of the Antelope Valley Fair--where the supervisor of the horse race betting facility was charged recently with embezzlement--has abruptly resigned.

Jim Pacini, 46, who had managed the fair since mid-1989, quit Friday, fair officials said Monday.

Charla Abbott, vice president of the nine-member Antelope Valley fair board--a state agency--said there was “absolutely no connection between” Pacini’s departure and the embezzlement case. He left voluntarily to pursue other career interests, she said.

However, two sources close to the fair said board members were unhappy with Pacini and that he appeared to have been ousted.

Pacini oversaw the fair during 1990 and 1991 when Jack L. Farmer, 46, of Glendale, supervisor of the fair’s off-track horse race wagering center, allegedly embezzled $26,500 in public funds. Farmer was fired in April, charged with embezzlement in October and is awaiting trial.

A sheriff’s investigation and state audit did not accuse Pacini of any wrongdoing in that matter.

However, Farmer, who is awaiting trial, has alleged that Pacini skimmed other fair funds to bet on horse races and that Pacini blocked Farmer’s attempts to properly deposit those funds. Pacini denied the allegations, which led to no legal action against him.

Pacini submitted his resignation, effective immediately, at a special meeting Friday morning of the fair board, whose members are appointed by the governor.

As acting fair manager, Abbott said, she named Mel Simas, 50, of Ventura to become interim manager Dec. 2. Simas is a veteran fair executive with prior stints as manager of the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County fairs.

Pacini had been earning $67,968 a year, a fair spokeswoman said.

Abbott called Pacini “a man of great integrity” and said it is common for fair managers to change jobs after several years and to leave without giving two weeks’ notice.

However, one source close to the fair board, who requested anonymity, said board members had been planning Pacini’s ouster for some time. And another source who works at the fair said Pacini appeared shocked later Friday when he told employees that he was leaving.

The only public sign of discontent by fair board members with Pacini surfaced in the Farmer case. A sheriff’s report recounted fair board member Gary Cosgrove’s complaints about irregularities in the fair’s bookkeeping and Pacini’s supposed slowness in remedying the problems.

Simas is expected to serve several months while the board searches for a new manager, Abbott said, adding that Simas will not be a candidate for the permanent job. She said Simas will serve under a consultant’s contract, but declined to discuss his salary.

Simas currently serves as entertainment coordinator for the Del Mar Fair in San Diego County and runs his own Ventura-based fair industry consulting firm, Simas and Associates. He had managed the Ventura County Fair from 1976 to 1983 and also ran the San Fernando Valley fair in the mid-to-late 1980s.

The Antelope Valley Fair, run by the state’s 50th District Agricultural Assn., has a history of wrongdoing by officials. Pacini’s predecessor was convicted of misdemeanor grand theft of fair property in 1990, and Farmer’s predecessor was convicted of embezzling fair funds in 1989.