Mental Health Official Who Resigned Is Arrested

Former Ventura County mental health administrator Kevin DeWitt was arrested Monday on charges of forgery and grand theft for allegedly lying to obtain his $65,200 job three years ago.

DeWitt, 39, who resigned Aug. 6 as the No. 2 man in the department amid scandal, is accused of defrauding the county by misrepresenting his educational background and criminal history.

Prosecutors who filed the charges say DeWitt never revealed when he was hired that he had been convicted of eight counts of federal bank fraud in 1989 while working as a junior loan officer at a Kentucky bank.

They also allege that DeWitt obtained his position as deputy director of the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department by presenting forged documents that showed he earned a 1993 doctorate from the University of Kentucky.

“That is an out-and-out lie,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Meyers, supervisor of the major fraud unit.

“I think it is important for people to know that when they submit forged documents in seeking employment, that is a serious matter and theft by false pretenses,” said Meyers.

DeWitt was arrested at his Camarillo home and booked into County Jail. He posted $10,000 bail late Monday, according to jail officials, but could not be reached for comment.

DeWitt is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on two felony charges. He faces up to three years in state prison if convicted.

In August, DeWitt told The Times that he had lied about the prior felonies on his job application, but explained that several years had passed and he believed he was not obliged to report the convictions.

His arrest marks the latest embarrassing chapter for the county’s troubled mental health department, which has been rocked by scandal for more than a year.

In 1998, the mental health and social services departments merged into one superagency. The reorganization was later rescinded when federal regulators said it violated Medicare billing rules.

The failed merger triggered half a dozen investigations by state and federal agents.

In July, the county agreed to pay $15.3 million to the federal government to settle claims that it had falsely billed Medicare for a decade.

A month later, DeWitt resigned.

County officials had been alerted to DeWitt’s criminal past by FBI agents, who were conducting background checks on several county managers as part of the Medicare probe.

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At least one county supervisor questioned Monday whether DeWitt was being made a scapegoat for the failed merger.

“The problem I have with it is the timing,” said Supervisor John Flynn. “The timing makes it look like the county found a scapegoat for the mental health mess.”

“A lot of blame should be passed around for that, and I am willing to take that blame,” Flynn added. “If you want to find a scapegoat, then there should be 60 mug shots in the paper.”

But county prosecutors said the charges they filed against DeWitt have nothing to do with the federal case. They focus solely on his alleged misrepresentations at the time he was hired.

DeWitt is accused of forgery for allegedly presenting fake documents to show he obtained a doctorate in philosophy, Meyers said. DeWitt has a master’s degree from a Kentucky university, the prosecutor said.

The grand theft charge alleges that DeWitt swindled the county by misrepresenting himself in order to obtain his management position.

In the wake of DeWitt’s resignation, the county’s personnel division has begun to explore better ways to screen job applicants, Human Resources Manager Barbara Journet said.

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Currently, applicants for most county jobs are required to state whether they have ever been convicted of a felony.

Beyond that, criminal background checks are conducted only for those individuals seeking jobs dealing with children or jobs within law enforcement agencies.

In DeWitt’s case, Journet said, a criminal check would not have been required. As for the alleged fraudulent degree, Journet said DeWitt presented transcripts that appeared to be legitimate.

“We had no reason to question,” she said.

Recommendations to tighten the county’s hiring practices are expected to go before the board in the next few weeks.

“You can’t 100% prevent this, but certainly we need to be much more careful,” said Supervisor Judy Mikels. “We are using taxpayers’ dollars to pay these employees, and we need to know that we have the best.”