Embattled College Trustee Faces Inquiry : Audit: Tom Ely, a Simi Valley Republican who is a candidate for county supervisor, is the target of a criminal investigation into possible misappropriation of college district funds.

Ventura Community College District Trustee Tom Ely has become the target of a county criminal probe into possible misappropriation of several thousand dollars in district funds, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said Wednesday.

Bradbury said his office received a copy Tuesday of an audit of Ely’s district expense records, which “raised sufficient concern for us to elevate the matter from inquiry status to a criminal investigation.”

Bradbury would not reveal details of the alleged misappropriations nor would he discuss what criminal charges Ely might face.

“I don’t intend to speculate on charges at this point,” Bradbury said. “The issue is the possibility of misappropriation of government funds, of college district funds.”

Ely laughed when The Times informed him of the criminal probe and replied: “Oh really? Good.”

The 54-year-old Simi Valley Republican, a candidate for the 4th District county supervisor seat, said he is not concerned by the investigation. “It’s typical Mike Bradbury, trying to get public press coverage,” he added.

Ely said he received a copy of the two-page audit and the financial records supporting it from district Chancellor Barbara Derryberry on Friday.

“The fact is, there is not one implication of impropriety in the audit,” said Ely, a trustee since 1979. “There are questions relative to the existence of receipts because the office of district administrative services either is doing a poor job of keeping the records sent to them, or the auditor was not understanding the effects and facts that were relative to the expenses.”

However, Ely would not comment further on which expenses were cited by auditors for the firm of Soares, Sandall, Bernacchi & Petrovich.

Derryberry declined to comment Wednesday on the contents of the audit, saying, “The trustees have not seen a copy yet. We’re still in the process of doing the investigation.”

Derryberry said the trustees expect Ely to give them a written response to the audit within two weeks. The audit and the response will then be forwarded to the full board, she said.

The board commissioned the audit two weeks ago after learning of Ely’s alleged gambling activities and after a disclosure that he used district telephones to call hotels and casinos in Nevada.

It was alleged that he owed $3,000 in gambling debts to the Edgewater Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nev. In February, the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas sued Ely over alleged gambling debts of $8,000.

A law enforcement source has told The Times that Ely had incurred a total of about $40,000 in gambling debts at a number of Las Vegas casinos and hotels.