A former county compliance officer is being accused of steering hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of county contracts to his spouse's business and has been arrested in Illinois, according to authorities.
On July 31, a former county officer with the Ventura County Health Care Agency was arrested in Joliet, Illinois on felony offenses including conflict of interest and special allegations of taking advantage of a position of trust to commit the offense, according to a Ventura County District Attorney's Office news release.
The 57-year-old is being extradited back to the county by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, officials said.
In 2022, the man was hired as a compliance officer, employed to oversee the county agency's compliance-related
issues and audits involving revenue, contracts with doctors, privacy rules and federal health privacy law compliance, the DA's office said. Making contracts with businesses for audits is a regular part of that job's role.
The man is suspected of making contracts on behalf of the county with AM Berry Consulting LLC, a firm owned and operated by his wife, officials said. A filing dating back to September 2024 with the state of California for that business shows only the name Angela Berry listed with the type of business as consulting.
The man allegedly never disclosed the relationship with his wife's business before signing contracts and assigned compliance projects, approving work invoices and authorizing county payments to his wife's business during the contract period, the release says. Between June 2023 and October 2024, the county paid his wife's business a total of $222,910, the DA's office said.
On Oct. 30, 2024, an anonymous compliant came through to the county employee fraud hotline and the complaint was investigated, officials said. The county terminated its contract with the wife's business on Feb. 3, 2025 and the man's job with the county was terminated on Feb. 9, 2025.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ex-county compliance officer accused of handing contracts to wife's firm
