Audit: NC Central administrator stole thousands

[krazykev]

RALEIGH (AP) -- A state audit has found that a high-ranking administrator at North Carolina Central University stole thousands of dollars in grant money, possibly to pay off his credit cards.

State Auditor Les Merritt said Tuesday the assistant provost improperly authorized $36,000 in graduate assistant contract payments to several people. About $15,000 in checks were actually cashed.

The investigation said the assistant provost asked recipients to cash the checks, take a little for themselves and give the rest to him.

The assistant provost isn't named in the investigation, but N.C. Central said that he has been relieved of all administrative duties. Merritt has referred the case to state and federal prosecutors.

[Aggie One]

NCCU Administrator Should Be Fired, Some Students Say

Posted: Feb. 13 6:27 p.m.
Updated: Today at 9:44 a.m.

Durham — Some students at North Carolina Central University want to know why an administrator accused of embezzling money still has a job. Others warn against a rush to judgment.

Franklin Carver was stripped of his duties as assistant provost and associate vice chancellor of academic affairs, but retains his faculty position at NCCU.

A state audit, released Tuesday, said that Carver diverted federal research money to pay his credit card bills.

Some students told WRAL Wednesday that a person accused of misusing university funds should be off the payroll. The audit was front-page news on the campus newspaper and has students asking questions about the university's actions.

“Personally, I do think he should be fired and he should be terminated immediately,” NCCU student Geoffrey Cooper said.

A three-month investigation showed Carver authorized nine checks, totaling $36,041, between April 2003 and March 2004 to people who shouldn't have received any money. The money was taken from grants to the university from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of the Minority Biomedical Research Support and the Overcoming Racial Health Disparities programs.

Seven of the nine checks, totaling $15,341, were cashed, according to the audit. The other two checks were caught by internal financial controls and denied.

Investigators also reviewed Carver's university-issued credit card account and found various personal items charged to the card, in violation of university policy, according to the audit.

“If he's not fired, I really start to question the whole entire operation of this university,” Cooper said.

Natalia Farrer wrote the story about Carver for the Campus Echo. She said there should not be a rush to judgment.

“If you're accused of something as a professor, it shouldn't be 'OK, cut, bye.' It should be, 'You're gonna investigate further. We're gonna see what the truth is,'” Farrer said.

“I think it was a shock to a majority of our students,” NCCU student body president Tomasi Larry said. “I've had several dealings with Dr. Carver and he was a phenomenal, phenomenal administrator, very student-oriented, very student-friendly."

With Carver's reputation on the line, student leaders fear what that might mean for NCCU.

“I want people to understand that this was an individual who did this, not an entire university community,” Larry said.

University officials declined to comment Wednesday, saying this is a personnel issue.

[Aggie One]

NCCU administrator accused of misuse of funds

BY WILLIAM F. WEST : The Herald-Sun
[e-mail]

Feb 13, 2008

DURHAM -- DURHAM -- A top-level N.C. Central University official improperly authorized payments of federal grant funds, falsified documents, had an improper relationship with a female student and charged personal expenses to a university-issued credit card, according to a state audit made public today.

State Auditor Les Merritt would identify the official only as NCCU's assistant provost and associate vice chancellor of academic affairs, but the NCCU Web site identifies the official with that title as Franklin Carver. The assistant provost is NCCU's second-highest level administrator for academic leadership.

Carver couldn't be reached for comment. A secretary for Carver's boss, Provost Beverly Washington Jones, referred all questions to NCCU spokeswoman Miji Bell, as did Chancellor Charlie Nelms' office.

Bell couldn't immediately be reached, but NCCU later issued a statement saying "we are now in the process of reviewing all associated policies and procedures to ensure compliance with state law and best financial practices. Where changes are appropriate, they will be made immediately."

NCCU said the assistant provost has been dismissed from his administrative post, but remains a faculty member.

"In addition, we will vigorously pursue financial restitution and will fully cooperate with the district attorney regarding any further legal review. Because this is a personnel matter, we cannot comment further," the university said.

Merritt, in the state audit report, said the findings would be turned over to federal and state prosecutors. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office could not be reached. Durham County's interim chief prosecutor, David Saacks, is out of his office until Thursday.

Merritt's spokesman, Chris Mears, said although state law does not prohibit Merritt from disclosing the name of the person who was under investigation, "it is just our standard policy" to refrain from doing so.

"We look at facts and we measure those facts and look at control measures and all the things that auditors look at. And therefore, it's really unneeded to mention the private names," Mears contended.

Amanda Martin, an attorney with the N.C. Press Association, countered that the assistant provost's name "should be part of the public record."