Ex-official accused of embezzling money from osteopathic board
The former deputy director of the Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine was arrested Thursday on suspicion of embezzling at least $60,000 of its money through forged checks and illegal credit card use, the attorney general's office said.
John E. Delap III, also known as Trey Delap, is being charged with 34 counts of theft, forgery and unlawful use of public money during his employment with the osteopathic board.
The attorney general's bureau of criminal justice alleges that between November 2004 and January 2006, Delap, 29, embezzled the board's money by forging checks made payable to himself and others and illegally obtaining and using the board's credit card to buy personal items.
Delap embezzled additional money from the board to pay off the credit card debt, the attorney general's office said.
Delap's attorney, Bill Terry, said he did not want to comment.
Executive staff for the board of osteopathic medicine could not be reached Thursday afternoon for comment.
Several board members reached by telephone said they did not want to comment.
During its nearly yearlong investigation into employee misconduct, the attorney general's office discovered that Delap had pleaded guilty in April to felony embezzlement while employed by Administrators in Medicine.
AIM is a nonprofit national organization that supports the work of state licensing boards for both osteopathic doctors and allopathic doctors -- MDs -- often through training seminars.
Delap was AIM's former treasurer, and his theft of more than $33,000 -- about half of what AIM collects in dues each year -- took place while he was in office between Dec. 18, 2003, and Nov. 15, 2004.
At the time of employment with AIM, Delap also held his position at the osteopathic board.
In an earlier interview with the Review-Journal, Dr. Larry Tarno, executive director of the osteopathic board, said that once he learned of Delap's activity with AIM, he put the financial records of his own organization under scrutiny.
The osteopathic board licenses physicians and investigates complaints against doctors.
Tarno had said the board took a close look at its bank statements, billings and payouts. That information was turned over to the attorney general's office.
Computer and financial records were seized by state authorities earlier this year from the board's headquarters at 2860 E. Flamingo Road.
That followed Delap's April 2 guilty plea in Clark County District Court in the AIM case.
In a plea agreement with the district attorney's office, Delap received five years of probation for embezzling funds from AIM.
He was ordered to make restitution of $34,208.14 and to attend Gamblers Anonymous a minimum of two times per week for the first three years of probation.
Delap was first hired by the osteopathic board part-time in 2002.
Delap, Tarno said, tendered his resignation in the fall of 2005, to be effective in February 2006.
Tarno had said Delap gave as a reason for his resignation his belief that a doctor was not being punished strongly enough for malpractice and unprofessional conduct.
Tarno could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Contact reporter Annette Wells at awells@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0283.
