Former employees under investigation for misuse of money, scrap metal
Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 2:33PM By Claire Byun
Two former Winthrop employees are under investigation for two potential breach of trust violations.
One case may lead to charges involving roughly $200,000 from alleged misuse of a procurement card, said Rebecca Masters, assistant to the president for public affairs.
The second case involves Dave Rentschler, former facilities management employee, regarding the mishandling of scrap metal sales and the use of $20,000 in aggregated proceeds from the sales.
Winthrop Police and the Office of Internal Audit are working in coordination with the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to investiage both cases. No charges have been filed.
“Each case was discovered through internal reviews and both are being pursued through Winthrop’s own aggressive internal audit processes,” Masters said.
Winthrop first learned of the potential violations through the Winthrop Budget Office review of increasing costs in one of its support operations during a time when all departments of the institution were to be actively reducing all costs.
The print shop is identified as the operation in question, according a university release.
When officials attempted to question Robert Walker, former supervisor of print shop operations, he did not respond and subsequently resigned.
A police report stated that Winthrop officials asked the internal auditors office to conduct an audit of the print shop. The investigation continues, and Winthrop expects the amount of funds to total $200,000, the release stated.
Both cases are “deeply disappointing, and emphasize the importance of our own on-going internal accountability measures. We are fortunate to have in place a budget team that is on the lookout for spending anomalies, and willing to pursue those and refer to internal auditing when warranted,” Masters said.
Though there is no set time for the conclusion of the investigations, Masters said Winthrop will seek restitution.
