Two sisters convicted of embezzling money from a high-profile nonprofit are fighting efforts by the state to punish them. And they have backing from their victim -- Genesis, a social service agency they founded.
Shortly after the convictions last June, the state Department of Social Services barred Elaine Bernard and Carol Dela Torre from most of the organization's facilities. The department also could ban them from working in any department-licensed institution.
Beginning in January, another state agency, the Board of Behavioral Sciences, moved to suspend or revoke their social work licenses, which would prevent Bernard and Dela Torre from practicing in California.
The license challenges have just begun, and no hearings have been scheduled. But attorney Linda Kollar, who also represents the Genesis board, is representing the sisters in an appeal of the Department of Social Services action. Kollar argues that the sisters' spending didn't take funds away from services for children. A hearing on the appeal is scheduled for next month in Fresno.
Genesis has contracts worth millions of dollars with Fresno County to provide mental-health counseling, housing and other services for the mentally ill. The agency also provides foster care and group home services to the county.
Genesis also faces scrutiny from county supervisors, who refused to give the agency a contract to provide drug and alcohol treatment after Bernard's highly publicized probation violation last month.
Genesis representatives say that Bernard has resigned as chief executive and left the nonprofit organization, but the departure hasn't stopped officials from taking action against her and Genesis. Dela Torre is the agency's clinical director.
The Department of Social Services wants to ban Bernard and Dela Torre from working in a foster-care agency, adoption agency and group homes run by Genesis and licensed by the department.
The programs make up most of the Genesis' operation, accounting for almost 90% of program spending in 2007, according to the latest available federal income tax return.
The complaints filed by the department and the Board of Behavioral Sciences don't allege that the embezzlement activity deprived the children served by Genesis.
The board complaint accuses the sisters of committing crimes "substantially related" to their job.
The department complaint accuses them of "conduct inimical" to the state's health and safety code.
Bernard couldn't be reached to comment because she's in the Fresno County Jail, where she will serve at least three months for violating the terms of her original sentence of probation. She violated probation by attending social events.
She also pleaded no contest Wednesday to a separate charge of driving under the influence.
Dela Torre declined to comment about the state actions.
Attorneys for Dela Torre and Bernard offer a similar defense against complaints filed by the two state agencies. The embezzlement by the sisters did not compromise service provided to children, they say.
From 1996 to 2002, Fresno County prosecutors alleged, the sisters embezzled more than $500,000 from Genesis, which receives almost all of its funding from government. The sisters agreed to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution, and Superior Court Judge John Vogt said Bernard's restitution just "scratches the surface" of how much she defrauded Genesis.
Still, attorney Kollar argues that the Department of Social Services needs to consider other issues.
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