Costa Mesa Fires Center’s Director

The head of the Costa Mesa Senior Center has been fired after police learned that he was charged with stealing money from an Oregon health agency that treats poor patients.

Alan M. Meyers had been at his $65,000-a-year job as executive director of the city’s senior center for eight months when Costa Mesa detectives learned of his alleged background, which they believe includes impersonating psychologists, a conviction for bigamy and a federal prison sentence for armed robbery.

A California Medical Board alert issued in 1991 also alleges that Meyers attempted in 1978 to murder a Washington, D.C., psychologist whom he had impersonated for more than two years while working as a staff psychiatrist at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino. He was never charged in that incident.

Meyers, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing by Costa Mesa officials, is awaiting trial next month in Klamath Falls, Ore., for allegedly embezzling almost $9,000 from the Klamath Open Door Family Practice Clinic, said Klamath County Dist. Atty. Ed Caleb. He said the theft occurred when Meyers “was paid for some moving expenses” but would not elaborate further.

Meyers was the clinic’s executive director from January to June 1999, said spokesman Brian Harris, who declined further comment.

Klamath County Sheriff’s Deputy Bud Wilson said his office is “also investigating Meyers for impersonating a physician.”

Meyers, who is free on $50,000 bail in the Oregon case, was fired by the Costa Mesa Senior Center board of directors after local detectives looked into his background following complaints from seniors at the center, Costa Mesa Police Lt. Ron Smith said. The nonprofit center is funded in part by the city.

Smith declined to say what the complaints were about, but he said investigators “delved into Meyers’ background and public records and learned of his past.”

“On Monday night, we went to the board of directors with our findings and they dismissed him,” Smith said. “We had two concerns. The first one is that he may have misrepresented himself when he was hired. The second is he was in charge of all the financial aspects of the center, and we are checking the books to make sure everything is in order.”

Smith said Meyers did not represent himself as a doctor when he applied for the job at the center.

However, according to the California Medical Board alert, Meyers has allegedly impersonated at least two psychologists and used at least one other name.

The report said Meyers impersonated psychologists in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Riverside and Arizona between 1974 and 1991. He was never prosecuted.

California Medical Board spokeswoman Candis Cohen said the agency can investigate only licensed doctors. She said it is up to local authorities to investigate those who impersonate doctors.

According to the board’s impostor alert, Meyers used the name Carmi Bar-Ilan until 1985, when he, his wife and son petitioned the Orange County Superior Court to change their names to Meyers.

That same year, while allegedly impersonating Dr. Simcha Goldman, Meyers filed a request with the Arizona state medical board to change his practitioner’s name to Alan Michael Meyers, according to the alert. Meyers had obtained an Arizona psychologist’s license in 1982 while allegedly impersonating Dr. Goldman, the report said.

Smith said that a Carmi Bar-Ilan earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1971. Bar-Ilan was also awarded master’s degrees in social work in 1969 and psychology in 1970 from Michigan.

“Right now, Carmi Bar-Ilan is a big mystery to us. We don’t know if that’s Meyers or not. Someone with that name did get those degrees from Michigan. But we don’t know if it was him or if he took another guy’s name,” Smith said.

Both Smith and California Medical Board officials said they do not know what Meyers’ name was at birth.

Meyers also told police that he served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force and served in the Israeli military as a legal advisor, Smith said, adding that Costa Mesa police have not confirmed that.

The medical board alert alleges that Bar-Ilan both tried to impersonate and murder Dr. Peter Polantin in the late 1970s while working as a psychiatrist at Patton State Hospital.

Patton spokeswoman Cindy Barrett declined to comment “because it’s a personnel matter.”

In 1978, Polantin was practicing in Washington, D.C., when he received a notice from California officials that he had to renew his license here. According to the state report, Meyers learned that Polantin’s license was up for renewal and, apparently fearing that he would be exposed, traveled to Washington and allegedly attempted to kill the real Polantin.

Polantin, who was in Santa Barbara, could not be reached for comment.

A U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., said Bar-Ilan was convicted of armed robbery in 1978 and sentenced to five years at the Inglewood Federal Prison in Littleton, Colo. He was paroled May 28, 1980, to Long Beach.

Smith, of the Costa Mesa Police Department, said Meyers was convicted of bigamy in Stanislaus County, in Northern California, on June 2, 1991.

Meyers’ whereabouts between 1991 and January 1999, when he was hired by the Klamath Falls clinic, are not known. During the time that he worked at the clinic, Meyers also worked part-time for the Benton-Franklin Community Action Committee in Pasco, Wash., where he was hired to secure grants to fund services for low-income families.

Officials from the Pasco committee fired him when they learned he was also the Klamath Clinic’s full-time director. According to published reports in Washington, Meyers was commuting from his Anaheim home to Pasco.

Meyers’ wife, Debra Franklyn, said neither she nor her husband would be commenting on his dismissal.