Off-Track Facility Under Investigation : Horse racing: Shortage of $300,000 at Lake Perris during Del Mar meet raises questions.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the shortage of at least $300,000 from an off-track betting facility, money that apparently was bet by a parimutuel clerk during the last two weeks of the Del Mar horse racing season.

“No arrests have been made, but we have some suspects,” said Sgt. Steve Hill, who is heading the investigation. “We’ve done some partial interviews with some people.”

Hill said that he couldn’t confirm the amount of the shortfall until he receives documents from the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which conducted a seven-week meeting that ended Sept. 13.

One possible scenario is that losing bets were made by a mutuel clerk on the Del Mar races and the money for the bets was never deposited in the mutuel money room at Lake Perris. Some sources have estimated that the cash shortage might be as much as $350,000.

Neil O’Dwyer, vice president of administration and racing at Fairplex Park in Pomona, said that there was a shortage of $27,000 in the money room after the opening day of the Los Angeles County Fair meet there. The Fairplex season opened Sept. 14, the day after Del Mar closed.

“We were made whole the next day,” O’Dwyer said. “The money was made up [by the clerk involved] right away, so there was no impact on us.”

Left unexplained is how an unaccounted-for amount of betting money could grow to $300,000 over a two-week span.

“Since this is under investigation, I’d rather not say anything,” said Al Karwacki, general manager of Southern California Off-Track Wagering Inc. (SCOTWINC). The SCOTWINC network consists of about two dozen off-track sites that take bets on races from area tracks. Mutuel clerks at the sites are employees of SCOTWINC.

R.J. (Mick) O’Connor, director of administration for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, did not respond to telephone messages. Tracks that run the races share in money bet through the SCOTWINC system, getting 2.9% to 4.5% of every dollar bet, depending on the type of bet.

“What usually happens after something like this is that a better system of checks and balances is developed,” O’Dwyer said. “At Pomona, for example, we never allow our mutuel manager to also work as a mutuel clerk.”

At some off-track facilities, managers double as clerks.

Bob Nieto, chief investigator for the California Horse Racing Board, said that there was a shortage of more than $200,000 in the mutuel money room at Los Alamitos Race Course several years ago. Nieto said that there is a similarity between the Los Alamitos case and the recent Lake Perris shortages, in that mutuel clerks are involved.

“The attorney general’s office, the district attorney, the FBI and local authorities were all involved at Los Alamitos,” Nieto said. “But nothing was ever proved.”

One source said that one of the issues at Lake Perris is how many cans of money a courier service, Armored Transport Inc., picked up at the fairgrounds as the Del Mar meet ended.

“I’ve been told by the higher-ups to say no comment,” said Gene Bernhard, a spokesman for Armored Transport.

Since the investigation began, Cory Williams, the manager of the satellite betting location at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds, has been replaced. Repeated attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

Gary Stallard, the new manager at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds facility, said that crowds at Lake Perris average 300-400 a day, with the daily betting handle in the $70,000 range.

Regarding the shortage at Lake Perris before he arrived Oct. 23, Stallard referred questions to Karwacki.