David Elias

David Elias, Selma’s city manager, has been charged on a felony complaint for 13 counts of misappropriating public money, announced the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.

The alleged misappropriations occurred while he was employed as the city manager of Fowler, where he resides. He was hired as Selma’s city manager in April.

The district attorney’s office announced that the alleged embezzlement occurred in 2015 and 2016, and involved the use of a city-issued credit cards to make more than 100 purchases “that were not for legitimate city business,” according to a news release.

Elias was arrested on Wednesday. A search of Fresno County inmate records showed he was no longer in custody.

ABC30 reported that the money was spent on items including pizza, coffee, Disneyland tickets and concert tickets to see Garth Brooks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and Paul McCartney. Elias told ABC30 the investigation is a witch hunted prompted by someone who wanted his job, and he said most of the purchases were legal. He said one purchase on tires was a mistake, and he would repay Fowler taxpayers.