State wants Beaumont corruption case defendant barred from CPA work

Corruption charges cast doubt on ex-Beaumont official’s honesty

Troubles appear to be mounting for William Aylward, one of seven former Beaumont officials awaiting trial on felony corruption charges that were filed earlier this year.

Aylward was Beaumont’s finance director.

The state board that licenses public accountants wants a judge to bar him from working as a certified public accountant while the criminal case against him is pending.

“We decline to comment at this time,” said an email from Aylward’s attorney, James M. Taylor.

The state’s petition, filed this week, will be considered at an Aug. 19 hearing in Riverside County Superior Court.

“William Kevin Aylward’s working as a certified public accountant poses a danger to the public health, safety and welfare,” said the petition filed by attorneys representing the California Board of Accountancy, which licenses CPAs.

Aylward is charged with six counts of misappropriation of public funds in connection with embezzlement, 24 counts of mishandling public monies, and two counts of conspiracy to misappropriate public funds, and such charges relate to his qualification as a CPA, the board attorneys wrote.

“CPAs occupy positions of great responsibility and trust in our society,” they wrote. “They have ongoing contact with the public; and their primary asset is honesty in their dealings.”

Aylward, 53, who obtained his CPA license in 1987, was in hot water with the state board before the corruption charges were filed.

Last year, he was placed on three years’ probation by the CPA board for repeatedly failing to submit a required peer review report about the adequacy of his accounting practice. The report was due in 2011.

The probation terms required him to obey all laws, reimburse the board $3,000 for the cost of his disciplinary case, complete four hours of ethics education and have his work be subject to peer reviews.

He was put on probation just two weeks after he resigned from his position as Beaumont’s finance director, a position he held for seven years.

Earlier this year, investigators with the District Attorney’s Office found that Aylward co-owned property leased to two automobile repair businesses that serviced city vehicles.

That constituted an apparent felony violation of a state law prohibiting conflicts of interest, an investigator said, because Aylward headed the city finance department that approved city payments to the repair businesses.

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