Former center director found guilty

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Former Costa Mesa Senior Center Director Alan M. Meyers

was convicted of first-degree theft this week for bilking an Oregon

health clinic out of nearly $10,000.

Meyers, an alias for a man whose real name is still uncertain, stood

trial Wednesday in Klamath Falls, Ore., for stealing money from the

nonprofit Klamath Falls Open Door Clinic.

Meyers was fired by the senior center board in May 2000 after it

learned Costa Mesa police were investigating whether he had invented his

credentials, impersonated doctors and stolen money from dozens of clinics

across the country over a 30-year period.

At the time, investigators did not find money missing from the senior

center coffers, but Costa Mesa Police Lt. Ron Smith said Meyers’ salary

could be considered stolen money if he was hired based on a false resume.

The Orange County district attorney’s office has not yet decided

whether to file charges based on the Costa Mesa police investigations.

The former center director has used a number of other aliases,

including Carmi Bar-Ilan.

As Bar-Ilan, Meyers was previously convicted of armed robbery for

trying to choke a doctor he was impersonating, an offense for which he

served 15 years in a federal prison.

Because of the previous conviction, Meyers will serve a minimum of 13

months in an Oregon penitentiary, Mark Costello, an attorney for the

Klamath Falls district attorney’s office, said Friday.

Senior center representatives said they were elated to hear that

Meyers, 60, was convicted.

“It’s very good that somebody finally got him,” said Saundra Abbott, a

fund-raising specialist for the center. “He made my life horrible when he

was here, and to steal from a nonprofit is as low as you can go. Until he

was put away, we were under his shadow. The legacy he left was this

stigma we have had to work with. We’re very lucky that he’s where he

belongs now.”

The senior center’s current director, Aviva Goelman, said she thinks

the center has already moved on.

“I think that, even though we’re happy to hear this, we’ve made our

closure a long time ago,” she said. “The center is doing well.”

Vivienne Hansen, a senior who visited the center Friday, said she was

shocked to hear news of Meyers’ conviction.

“It’s a pity,” she said. “I think that we senior citizens need someone

looking out for us, not taking our hard-earned whatever we have left. I’m

surprised someone like that even got in that position.”

Jerry Richards, president of the senior center board, said the lesson

to be learned from the incident is that everybody should do background

checks on the people they employ.

“Had we gone to a workplace where he had worked or a place where he

had lived, we would have uncovered his history,” Richards said. “I will

never be part of another board again that does not do an on-site check to

protect their organization. No doubt [his conviction] was justice, and I

feel bad for all the people he has allegedly hurt over many, many years.

He got his comeuppance, but it was a long time coming.”