Trustee Pleads No Contest to Grand Theft, Fraud : Courts: The county school board member admitted stealing $48,000 from Oxnard clients. He has repaid the money.

A longtime trustee of the Ventura County Board of Education pleaded no contest to five counts of grand theft and tax fraud in Municipal Court, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Robert G. Viles, 58, who ran an Oxnard insurance office, admitted stealing more than $48,000 of his clients’ money between February, 1989, and December, 1990, and is expected to resign his elected position on the school board at a meeting today with the superintendent.

Viles, the former vice president of Frank B. Hall & Co., an insurance brokerage firm, was arrested by investigators from the district attorney’s office at his Oxnard home Monday and booked into Ventura County Jail before being released on his own recognizance, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff G. Bennett said.

Viles could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

He could receive up to eight years in prison when he is sentenced June 8, but the district attorney’s office is recommending probation because Viles has no previous record and has repaid all the money, Bennett said.

“He paid back every dime,” the prosecutor said. “He relinquished his own retirement (funds). It’s unusual that people who steal that kind of money pay it back.”

Viles admitted depositing his clients’ money into a personal account and falsifying a tax return to cover it up, Bennett said.

Company auditors uncovered the accounting shortages in an audit being conducted during an unrelated fraud investigation, and Viles signed a confession in April, 1991, the complaint said.

Although Viles admitted stealing just over $48,000, a company audit completed in 1992 found more than $100,000 missing from accounts he controlled, Bennett said in the complaint.

The discrepancies were settled in-house when Viles repaid more than $100,000, and prosecutors did not become aware of any wrongdoing until Viles testified before the grand jury in the separate fraud case, said defense attorney James M. Farley of Oxnard.

The Frank B. Hall & Co. insurance brokerage house has since been sold and its Oxnard office has been closed, Bennett said. The prosecutor said the sale and closure of the Oxnard office was not related to the Viles case.

Farley said his client was remorseful and chose to admit the charges rather than be indicted.

“He had done everything the D.A. wanted him to do prior to this and a choice came between an indictment of many counts or to plead guilty to this information,” Farley said.

Supt. James F. Cowan said he had a meeting scheduled with Viles this morning, and praised Viles’ contribution to the school board. He said Viles has served on the board for more than 15 years.

“He was a good businessman who brought a business perspective to the board,” Cowan said. “He always asked a lot of questions and he seemed really fair-minded.”

Under state law, a convicted felon cannot hold public office.

Times correspondent Julie Fields contributed to this report.