Bernard ordered to stay in jail, leaves Genesis

Former executive director sentenced after probation violation.

Published online on Wednesday, May. 13, 2009

A judge on Monday sentenced Elaine Bernard to at least three more months in jail for flouting the terms of her probation by attending social events.

Just before she was sentenced, Bernard's attorney announced she had resigned as executive director of Genesis Family Center, a child-welfare agency she founded. Bernard and her sister, Carol Dela Torre, were convicted last year of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the nonprofit by using company credit cards for shopping sprees and vacations.

Genesis, which has more than $4.5 million in contracts with Fresno County, stood by the two sisters despite their convictions. But the agency has come under increasing pressure as public outrage built over the case. On Monday, three county supervisors said they rejected a Genesis contract last week because of concern about the sisters' convictions.

"I'm troubled by the continual problems they have with their top director," said Supervisor Judy Case. "They have someone with a track record of taking public funds."

Fresno County Superior Court Judge John Vogt sentenced Bernard last summer to three years on probation and 300 days in a work-furlough program with electronic monitoring after she pleaded no contest to felony tax evasion and embezzlement. Dela Torre pleaded no contest to misdemeanor grand theft and received two years on probation and the same work furlough program for 30 days.

Bernard's surprise resignation came as Vogt sentenced her to a year in jail for ignoring his order that forbade her from attending social events while on probation and in a work furlough program.

Bernard, 49, wore handcuffs, leg irons and a green jail jumpsuit and did not speak at her hearing, other than to tell the judge she understood her jail sentence.

"Are you sure?" Vogt asked.

"Yes," she replied.

She cried when her attorney, Scott Quinlan, broke the news in court that she was resigning as the nonprofit agency's chief executive officer "in the best interest of Genesis." After the hearing, Dela Torre said Bernard signed her resignation papers Monday but had been thinking about it for at least a week.

"She didn't want [her case] to distract from the good work of Genesis," Dela Torre said.

The Genesis board will pick Bernard's successor, but Dela Torre said she likely won't get the top job. "The board has to do what is in the best interest for the corporation," she said. "I'm OK with it."

Bernard and Dela Torre founded Genesis in the mid-1980s and turned it into a $10 million annual enterprise that provides programs under contracts from local governments for at-risk young adults as well as for neglected, abused and abandoned children.

As chief executive officer, Bernard made about $155,000 a year. Dela Torre earns about $145,000.

Under the work furlough program, the sisters could only go to work. The rest of the time, they were supposed to be at home.

Dela Torre successfully completed the program, but probation officials arrested Bernard on March 30 after a photograph of her taken at a Feb. 5 reception appeared in Imagine Fresno magazine.

Bernard also attended a St. Patrick's Day party at the Dowling, Aaron & Keeler law office on March 17 and was seen having lunch at a local restaurant on March 27, court records show.

During Monday's hearing, Vogt said Bernard faced as much as five years in prison for violating the work furlough program, but he said he chose to follow the Probation Department's recommendation of a year in jail.

With credit for time she has already served by wearing an electronic monitor, time she has served in jail and good-conduct credit she earns in jail, Bernard is likely to be released in three months, Quinlan said.