Mental Health Clinic Funds Scrutinized

Executives of a nonprofit mental health center in Glendora used public funds to pay for an exotic retreat in Palm Springs and to assume a car lease from a relative of one of the officers, according to a report by Los Angeles County auditors.

The report, obtained Monday by The Times, cites irregularities in how the Foothill Community Health Center used $135,000 in public money. The audit comes as county supervisors are scheduled to vote today to cut off funding to the agency.

The report is the second one within a year to find serious problems at the agency, which serves 600 to 1,000 people in the East San Gabriel Valley by providing mental health services and family support programs.

Foothill Chief Executive Oficer Sal Ortiz did not return repeated telephone calls Monday. But sources said employees of the agency were not paid Monday and were informed that Foothill was “closing down.”

In their latest review, county auditors found that Foothill commingled funds from specific government grants and paid unallowable expenses as car detailing, personal dental bills for Ortiz, and $749 in karate lessons.

Supervisors today will hear a recommendation from the county Department of Mental Health to terminate its $2.1-million contract with Foothill.

Kathryn Barger, a spokeswoman for Supervisor Mike Antonovich, in whose district Foothill operates, said he “completely supports this move, based on the department’s recommendation and the findings of the auditors.”

“We’re working to provide alternative care through another organization before the contract would end in December,” she said.

County officials said they expect Foothill to ask supervisors to put the agency on probation, rather than terminate its contract.

Foothill and its management have been mired in controversy since last year, when county auditors discovered problems that included a contract with an unlicensed treatment facility in San Dimas.

In July of this year, the agency’s board fired its executive director and replaced him with Ortiz, the owner of a tax service company. Ortiz is paid an annual salary of $99,984.

The next month, agency employees sent a two-page complaint letter to Antonovich, alleging further financial and patient mismanagement. The allegations spurred Monday’s county audit report.

County auditors say Foothill cannot provide adequate receipts for $120,550 in expenditures, and apparently violated federal spending requirements for another $14,512. That includes $4,951 spent to take agency board members to a Palm Springs retreat. Although the report does not name the site, a county official Monday identified it as Merv Griffin’s Resort Hotel and Givenchy Spa, which costs $320 to $500 per person a weekend.

The report also notes that there are not adequate receipts to support $4,567 spent on food, beverages, gas and carwashes for Ortiz. Auditors added that Ortiz spent about $35 each month getting his car detailed, had a car allowance of $500 a month, and rang up “excessive” gasoline purchases.

It also noted that Ortiz’s brother was paid $2,000 to make a video for the agency. The check came from a special agency fund and was signed by Ortiz, although he was not authorized for the account, the report stated.

Foothill had paid GE Capital $2,188 to assume an automobile lease that was previously held by one of Ortiz’s relatives. The car is now driven by Foothill Vice President Julie Matsumoto. Auditors also said Ortiz had a potential conflict of interest because Foothill paid $34,000 to a youth development agency called Power to Change, which Ortiz runs. Ortiz told auditors he discontinued his involvement with Power to Change as of Oct. 1.

Even before the latest audit, the Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning this summer froze its funding for a domestic violence program run through Foothill, officials said.