Sale of College Horses Legal, Report States

There is no evidence of theft or wrongdoing related to the sale of horses left over from the defunct equine program at Moorpark College, an independent probe released Thursday concluded. And the district attorney’s office has dropped its investigation into the transactions.

But college district officials said the investigation failed to address a number of concerns, including former program director Don Anderson’s incomplete bookkeeping and why he settled on apparently low prices for some animals.

The report, prepared last month by a private investigator, said Anderson disposed of the college-owned horses the same way he had for years: by selling them to people he knew would provide good homes for the animals.

Anderson, the longtime director of the Moorpark College Equine Program, put proceeds back into the program to keep it afloat because the college could not afford to increase funding, the investigator said.

“I did not find any evidence that Mr. Anderson acted in an illegal manner with intent to defraud the college,” William Hansen wrote in his report to Thomas G. Lakin, chancellor of the Ventura County Community College District.

“He merely attempted to close down the program in the same manner as he had operated it for some 25-26 years--by making personal decisions which he believed were in the best interest of the college,” concluded Hansen, who was paid $2,600 for his weeklong investigation.

A copy of the report was forwarded to the Ventura County district attorney’s office, which had been looking into the transactions. But Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury announced Thursday that he was dropping the case.

“We have closed our file on the matter,” he said in a statement.

The equine program shut down last June after Anderson retired. Over the last year, Anderson was instructed to dismantle the program, but was given no specific directions from college or district officials, Hansen said.

Anderson made arrangements to sell the horses to a variety of buyers he said would pay a fair-market price for the animals and provide them safe homes, the investigator said.

But Anderson never obtained direct permission to sell the animals from college district trustees, who are bound by the state education code to dispose of surplus property by auctioning it off to the highest bidder.

More than 40 horses were accounted for at the Rancho Sierra Vista facility in Newbury Park earlier this year. Later, however, more than a dozen horses turned up missing or already sold.

Trustees opted to sell the 23 remaining horses at auction, but only under certain conditions designed to weed out horse meat dealers who would sell the animals to be used in dog food.

The auction generated more than $11,000--well above Anderson’s appraisal of $300 each.

Moorpark College President James Walker was pleased that the investigation was closed.

“I’m relieved, frankly,” he said. “I’m happy to put any matter behind me that has been a great consumer of time and energy on the part of many people at the college.”

But Vice Chancellor Jerry D. Pauley said the investigation merely concludes what many suspected for months: “That we would wind up finding (the program) was probably operated inappropriately,” he said.

“But it is questionable whether there was any intent to defraud the district of any property,” Pauley added.

Trustee Karen M. Boone, who has been the most vocal board member in criticizing the handling of the horses, also said Thursday that Hansen’s report is incomplete.

“There are still some unexplained things here,” she said. “He doesn’t go into anything as far as the managerial problems. I’ll be sure and bring that up at the board meeting.”

Michelle Erich, a Port Hueneme attorney who sought and eventually won the right to bid on the 23 animals, said Thursday that the report does not address Anderson’s under-valuations of the animals.

“He was finding good homes for the horses, perhaps, but they weren’t necessarily providing a good income to the college,” said Erich, who purchased two horses. “I still question whether he was acting in the best interest of the taxpayers.”

Erich said one horse she bought with a $50 bid was later valued at $800 by an independent appraiser.