Handling of Horses Under Investigation : Moorpark: D.A. and community college district look into the disappearance of more than 20 animals from defunct riding facility.

Both the Ventura County district attorney’s office and the Community College District have launched investigations into the disappearance of more than 20 horses at the defunct Newbury Park equestrian program run by Moorpark College.

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin J. McGee said Monday that his office is looking into the possible theft or illegal sale of public property, while the college district has hired a private investigator to examine whether its staff broke any laws in dismantling the program.

“It’s potentially criminal,” McGee said of the district attorney’s probe. But he declined to elaborate because the investigation is ongoing.

The Ventura County Community College District hired a private investigator last week to interview employees and study financial records kept by Don Anderson, the former ranch operator who retired in June and moved from the area.

Earlier this year, at least 40 horses were in training at the Rancho Sierra Vista equestrian center in Newbury Park.

But college officials have been unable to determine precisely how many horses, which Anderson appraised at an average of $325 each, were sold by Anderson prior to the board’s decision to sell the surplus animals at auction.

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Trustees “want to look into the situation of the horses and what happened to them and get a background on it,” said Jerry Pauley, a vice chancellor of the three-campus college district.

Westlake Village private investigator William Hansen, hired for 40 hours at $65 an hour, declined to discuss his progress in the case Monday.

Trustee Gregory P. Cole, who represents the Newbury Park area on the governing board, said he wants to find out what happened to the missing horses that were supposed to be sold to the highest bidder.

“The explanation of the close of the program and the distribution of the horses unsettled the board,” Cole said. “A number of us were not satisfied with the explanations that were given to us by the staff.”

Trustee Timothy D. Hirschberg said Hansen was told to interview anyone involved with the horses or the sale of surplus equipment related to the program.

“There was a whole grab bag of questions and issues, beginning with a large number of missing horses that seem to be scattered across the equestrian United States,” Hirschberg said.

“Those horses belong to the college and they seem to have been given away, spirited away or maybe even stolen,” he said. “But we couldn’t confirm anything with the explanation and documentation given to us by staff.”

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The dual investigations are the latest in a series of missteps that have marked the closure of the Moorpark College Equine Program.

More than 40 horses were used at the Rancho Sierra Vista facility as recently as May. But only 17 of the animals are available for bid at a auction scheduled for Wednesday.

It is the second auction to be held, a sealed bid event designed to weed out flesh dealers who would use the horses for dog food.

The first auction was canceled after college officials discovered that Anderson had secreted at least seven horses at an Ojai ranch more than a month before he quit his job. Anderson said some of the horses belonged to him, but that he would donate them to the program, Moorpark College President James Walker said.

Prior to that, Anderson told trustees that he had been selling horses at prices he negotiated himself for years. But as college property, any sale of the animals should have been conducted in public under the authority of Moorpark College officials, according to state law.

Anderson kept a cardboard box full of records--later turned over to district administrators--but trustees and other college officials said they are incomplete.

Walker told trustees in June that he had approved a plan proposed by Anderson last year to dismantle the equine program. But he said he was unaware that Anderson was planning to set his own prices and select his own buyers for the animals.

After Anderson departed, the few horses that were available for sale to the public were left unattended at the abandoned Rancho Sierra Vista training facility in Newbury Park.

College officials later brought in a part-time trainer to feed and water the animals until they were relocated to the Ojai ranch, which is charging the district $100 a month to board each of the animals.