Embezzling Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

A former sanitation district manager has pleaded not guilty to charges of embezzlement, money laundering and income tax fraud in the disappearance of more than $200,000 from the district’s budget.

Carol Ann Deavenport faces 52 criminal counts for allegedly embezzling $215,000 from the Ventura Regional Sanitation District over a five-year period. Deavenport was arraigned Thursday in Ventura County Superior Court after turning herself in to authorities.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Johnson said Deavenport violated the public’s confidence by misappropriating the money.

“She was a public official, and she was in a position of trust,” Johnson said. “I’m glad that we finally got it into the court system so we can get this matter resolved.”

In 1995, Deavenport, who was fiscal operations manager of the sanitation district, created a fake vendor company called Southwest Construction and opened a bank account in that company’s name, investigators with the district attorney’s office said.

Between June 1995 and last February, Deavenport authorized checks from the sanitation district to the company, officials said. She then wrote 27 checks to herself from the fictitious company and deposited those in her personal bank account, according to officials and court documents.

Investigators learned of the alleged embezzlement last spring when the bank accidentally deposited a check to Southwest Construction back in the sanitation district’s account. When Deavenport learned of the bank’s error, authorities said, she asked a sanitation district employee to reissue a check to the company.

That’s when district staff members realized that Southwest Construction did not exist, officials said.

Deavenport was suspended from her job in April as authorities investigated a potential money-laundering scheme. She resigned shortly thereafter, after 19 years at the sanitation district. Deavenport then moved from Port Hueneme to Henderson, Nev., a suburb of Las Vegas.

District attorney’s officials continued to talk to Deavenport’s attorney during the summer and fall. Investigators filed a felony complaint Nov. 17, and last week Deavenport turned herself in to Nevada authorities. She then returned to Ventura County. She faces charges of embezzlement of public money, embezzlement by a public official, money laundering and filing false income tax returns.

Deavenport posted $20,000 bail soon after her arraignment and was released from Ventura County Jail. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Bill Smith, general manager of the sanitation district, said Deavenport betrayed the entire district.

“Any time a public employee succumbs to temptation and steals public funds like this, it’s a real sense of loss,” Smith said. “Any theft is bad, but I think it’s a lot worse when the public is involved.”

The illegal transactions lasted for five years without detection, Smith said, because Deavenport was the person handling the money.

Created by the county government in 1970, the sanitation district is a public agency with an annual budget of $15 million to $20 million. It has contracts with eight of 10 Ventura County cities to store trash at the Toland Road landfill, located between Santa Paula and Fillmore.

The district was reimbursed for the lost money by its insurance company, said Don Gunderson, a member of the district’s board.

Johnson said it took investigators several months to go through the records and budgets. Deavenport’s case is set for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 20.