"We must get to the bottom of this situation," Bishop Gethin Hughes said in a written statement.

ECS is one of San Diego's oldest and largest charities, dating to 1927 and providing more than $20 million in services each year. It has built a reputation for its community work – from running alcohol-and drug-treatment programs to operating day-care centers.

But it has also been an embattled agency in the past two years, weathering questions about management lapses, faulty record-keeping and staff turnover.

Hughes sits on the ECS board, though he repeatedly has noted he has no direct authority over the organization. He met Monday with a group of other ECS board members and they agreed to form the independent review committee, said Archdeacon William Dopp, the bishop's spokesman.

Dopp said the committee will be a mix of lay people and clergy and probably will be announced in a few days.

"They are people of high integrity who currently have no ties to this office or ECS," Dopp said.

"Their task is going to be to meet with the people who have publicly made statements and also to try to discover who the anonymous people are and meet with them, if that's possible," he added.

Rolfe Wyer, president of the ECS board of directors, who was at Monday's meeting with the bishop, said the committee membership and the scope of the investigation remain to be worked out.

"We're not going to start a general witch hunt," Wyer said yesterday. "We're going to focus on allegations which have been made and not on personalities."

However, he said "some of this is about personalities. There are always differences in operating styles."

Wyer said the board supports ECS' executive director, the Rev. Amanda Rutherford May, an Episcopal priest and former CPA who has been the target of some of the criticism from former staff members.

In an interview yesterday, May said, "Nothing has been brought to my attention that hasn't been corrected. . . . I know of no fraud."

May, who took over ECS nearly 10 years ago, said she is not "planning to resign."

"I feel called to this ministry," she said. "I feel called to work with the poor in whatever capacity I can for the rest of my life as an ordained priest."

She said the board has told her to focus on running the organization, which has 500 employees and serves 3,500 clients a day, and let it deal with any allegations.

"The board has decided to take a pretty aggressive stance in response to (published) articles," May said.

The District Attorney's Office will not confirm or deny that a criminal investigation is under way, but former ECS officials told the Union-Tribune they were interviewed by investigators and provided them with documents on business practices.

Sources said the investigation began last month and that among the questions is whether records the charity submitted to the county were doctored to make it appear the organization was meeting the terms of public contracts.

Dopp said the committee's investigation probably will take several weeks.

"We're hoping they can get back to us as soon as possible, but we're not going to rush them with any deadline so they can do a full, thorough job," he said.

Dopp said the diocese has not talked to the District Attorney's Office, which had no comment yesterday on the formation of the church committee. However, a spokeswoman for the office, Gail Stewart, said that "any information that comes forward, we'd be interested in hearing."

Staff writer Jeff McDonald contributed to this report.