Former Administrator Resigns New Post After Admitting He Hid His Criminal Past

Former county mental health administrator Kevin DeWitt resigned his new post Friday, four days after admitting he kept a criminal past hidden from county officials when he was hired three years ago.

DeWitt, 39, of Camarillo submitted a resignation letter late Friday, said Barbara Fitzgerald, director of the Human Services Agency, where DeWitt has worked since April.

“He clearly feels that he has embarrassed the agency and he regrets that,” Fitzgerald said. “He felt that [resigning] was the best thing to do.”

DeWitt failed to disclose eight bank fraud convictions dating back 10 years when he applied for a deputy director’s position in the Behavioral Health Department in 1996.

County officials say they were alerted to DeWitt’s past by FBI agents, who were conducting criminal checks on several county managers as part of a probe into the mental health department.

DeWitt’s past become publicly known earlier this week. DeWitt told The Times he had lied about the felonies on his employment application because years had passed and he felt he was no longer obligated to report them.

DeWitt could not be reached for comment late Friday.

Fitzgerald said DeWitt has done a good job over the past three months, drawing up plans to make the agency’s computers Y2K-compliant. DeWitt will train other employees to follow through on that plan before his Aug. 20 departure, Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said she is not certain whether she will replace DeWitt, who works as her assistant.

Disclosure of DeWitt’s past was another embarrassing wrinkle in management of the Behavioral Health Department, which has been rocked by turmoil for more than a year.

State and federal investigations into billing practices at the mental health agency have so far resulted in the county being forced to pay a $15.3-million Medicare fraud settlement. Other reviews are pending and more fines may be imposed.

The probes were sparked by a decision last year to merge the county’s mental health and social service agencies. DeWitt was among a handful of county managers who planned the merger, which was later rescinded by the Board of Supervisors after federal regulators said it had violated Medicare billing rules.

DeWitt was ousted, along with his boss, for his role in the merger. He transferred to the Human Services Agency.

DeWitt was working as a junior loan officer at a Louisville bank in the mid-1980s when the felonies occurred. He admitted he had written fake references on loan documents in an effort to process more loans and please his bosses. The bank lost an estimated $26 million as a result of bad loans handled by DeWitt.

His duties as deputy director of the mental health agencies included some financial oversight of programs. But there have been no allegations of financial impropriety during his employment with Ventura County.

County Counsel James McBride is in the midst of an investigation into DeWitt’s failure to disclose his criminal past. That review will be completed in about a month, officials said.

Supervisor Frank Schillo said DeWitt “did the proper thing” by resigning. In a letter to supervisors, DeWitt indicated he planned to pursue private consulting full time after leaving county government, Schillo said.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilson and Times Community News reporter Pamela J. Johnson contributed to this story.