UPDATED: DA files criminal charges against Kern County Fair employee following blistering state audit
Aug. 18—The Kern County District Attorney's Office has filed felony charges against a Kern County Fair employee whose alleged misconduct was documented in a 2019 state audit.
On Wednesday, the DA's Office announced William Joseph Hebert, maintenance supervisor for the 15th District Agriculture Association, which runs the fair, has been charged with three counts of felony grand theft.
According to a DA news release, Hebert allegedly obtained 47,290 pounds of scrap materials from the fair and arranged for it to be turned in to recycling facilities. He did not turn the proceeds over to the 15th District, the DA said in the release.
A single charge of grand theft requires the suspect to take items valued at over $950, indicating the DA believes Hebert brought in at least $2,850.
An arrest warrant for Hebert has been issued, and he is being sought by law enforcement agencies.
The charges stem from a wide-ranging investigation by the California State Auditor's Office that alleged "gross mismanagement" by not only employees of the fair, but the board itself, resulted in the misuse of resources and violations to multiple state laws.
The audit, which came out in August 2019, did not name the agricultural district that was its subject. However, media organizations, and now the DA's Office, have linked the audit to Kern County.
In the audit, investigators found the fair board mishandled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of funds, allowed employees to work side gigs while on the clock and used state credit cards to purchase lavish meals and alcohol, which is against state policy. But because the audit was conducted as a whistleblower investigation, much of the potential evidence overturned by the state was unavailable to the DA's Office.
This meant the DA's Office had to conduct its own investigation "from scratch."
"The state of California stood behind the Whistleblower Act and did not share the investigation with us," said DA Cynthia Zimmer. "They made these findings and they published these findings, yet the evidence they had, that they drew these conclusions from, were not shared with us."
That meant potential criminal charges against other employees of the fair were not filed by the DA's Office, which has closed its investigation.
The directors of the fair board were cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the investigation, Zimmer said, although their actions violated state policies on out-of-state travel and meal purchases.
The DA's press release says board members may have received bad legal advice from a deputy attorney general. The attorney responsible for the purported advice has since retired and could not rule out the possibility that he had improperly guided the board, the release said.
"They were not operating under current rules," Zimmer said. "Once they figured that out, because that's what the audit brought to their attention, they are now acting within the rules of what the state requires and they paid back any excessive type of money they may have spent."
As part of its report, the California Auditor's Office listed 14 recommendations for how the 15th Agricultural District could atone for its alleged mismanagement. The recommendations include recouping costs for inappropriate purchases and training employees on state policies. All have either been resolved or partially resolved except disciplinary action against CEO Mike Olcott and other employees who engaged in improper activities.
The Kern County Fair is currently scheduled for Sept. 22 to Oct. 3.
"Our Public Integrity investigators conducted a thorough investigation into areas highlighted in the audit," Zimmer said in the release. "Where evidence of criminal misconduct was identified, appropriate charges have been filed. The Kern County Fair is an integral part of our community, and the results of the audit and these charges should serve as a reminder of all involved to take management of the 15th District's funds seriously, and thus protect the future of the Kern County Fair for future generations."
You can reach Sam Morgen at 661-395-7415. You may also follow him on Twitter @smorgenTBC.
