NEWPORT BEACH : Housing Director Must Stand Trial

Municipal Judge Susanne S. Shaw on Thursday ordered the former executive director of Irvine Temporary Housing to stand trial on charges of forgery and grand theft.

During a four-hour preliminary hearing, a police handwriting expert testified that Clyde E. Weinman likely forged signatures on thousands of dollars worth of checks drawn from the charitable agency’s accounts.

Irvine Temporary Housing’s board of directors fired Weinman last June after discovering alleged improprieties with the agency’s bookkeeping and called in police to investigate.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Daniel B. McNerney said an ongoing investigation points to Weinman’s forging dozens of checks totaling more than $100,000.

Irvine Police Investigator Paul Jessup said it was “highly probable” that Weinman signed the names of board members on at least 13 of the agency’s checks. In some cases, the checks were made out to Weinman or to Weinman and his wife. In others, they were made out to pay utility bills at Weinman’s home in Lake Forest.

Weinman has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of forgery and one count of grand theft. Although it is likely Weinman forged signatures on more than 13 checks, McNerney said, the 13 counts arise from the checks most easily proved to have been forged by Weinman.

Weinman’s attorney, Milton Kerlan Jr., did not offer a defense to the charges during the preliminary hearing. Preliminary hearings are held to determine whether enough evidence exists to warrant a trial.

During the trial, Kerlan said, he will show that Weinman is at most guilty of sloppy accounting practices. Agency checks made out to Weinman were to repay him for his own money he put into the agency to pay its bills and help its clients.

“No one is stupid enough to make all those checks out in his own name and his wife’s name,” Kerlan said. “You’d have to be a moron to do that.”

While Weinman was working for Irvine Temporary Housing, the agency barely kept afloat while paying bills on housing it owns, utilities and other expenses, Kerlan said. To get by week to week, Weinman had to sometimes put his own money into the agency’s accounts or borrow money from supporters to pay bills on time, Kerlan said. The agency then repaid those loans when it had the funds, he said.

Weinman also could not always draw his $2,000-a-month salary in one check because the agency lacked the money to cover it, Kerlan said. So he was paid in smaller amounts in several checks over time, he said.

Jessup testified that employees of the agency agreed that Weinman sometimes was paid in several smaller checks and that sometimes those checks were made out directly to his creditors. But those checks for Weinman’s salary were all accounted for and excluded from the investigation, Jessup said.

Shaw ordered Weinman to appear in Orange County Superior Court on Feb. 2.

Kerlan said he plans to ask for a delay because he will want to see records of Irvine Temporary Housing’s income as well as its bank deposits in order to prove Weinman’s contention that he loaned money to the agency on a regular basis to keep it afloat.