CONWAY — “Multiple red flags” regarding University of Central Arkansas’ former Chief of Staff Jack Gillean went unchecked long before he resigned in June and later was charged with four felonies, an internal audit has found.
Gillean, 56, is accused of giving his UCA-issued grand-maste r key, a second key and an identification card that doubled as a key card to a student who police say used it to burglarize professors’ offices and steal tests.
Gillean, a former deputy attorney general, was charged in October with three felony counts of commercial burglary, one felony count of fraudulent insurance acts and one misdemeanor count of issuing a false statement. He has pleaded innocent.
A draft report of UCA’s Office of Internal Audit said “that multiple red flags related to Mr. Gillean’s erratic behavior and lack of [a] grand master key occurred from Spring 2011 to Summer 2012.”
The report, obtained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, continued: “Because different areas were involved, it appears there was a break-down in communication and a departure from normal procedure.”
In early spring this year, for example, before Gillean resigned June 15, Andrew Linn, a financial-aid employee, “informally” advised UCA police that a student had told him that he had “Jack’s master key,” the audit found.
Police “then attempted to validate the information,” the audit report said. “Because the information/rumor could not be validated, Chief [Larry] James did not speak to Mr. Gillean about this matter and did not immediately take this information to the President.”
The report referred to the student only as “student A,” and any references to students’ names were marked out because of a federal privacy law.
An affidavit accompanying the criminal charges against Gillean, however, indicated the student who had that key was Cameron Stark, a former Marine who no longer attends UCA. Further, James confirmed in an interview Wednesday that the student was Stark, who has limited immunity from prosecution.
Linn’s tip to police took place well before authorities say Stark burglarized a UCA building on June 9, stole prescription pills from Linn’s desk drawer and later turned over two of Gillean’s keys to police. Perhaps more significantly, the tip came after Gillean told UCA President Tom Courtway in the fall of 2011 that he had “lost” his grandmaster key.
James said Wednesday that his friendship with Gillean and the fact that Gillean was in a position of authority over the UCA Police Department did “not in any way ... influence any decisions” he made.
According to James, Linn and a police officer “came across each other in a bar,” when Linn mentioned Gillean’s key.
“A n d r e w indicated that he had been drinking but also indicated that Stark was basically inebriated” at the time, James said of the occasion when Stark revealed the possession of the key.
The police asked Linn to try to obtain more information from Stark — “something more than that — just kind of a drunken utterance at [a] bar,” James said.
James said that Linn and Stark ran into each other later but that this time Stark, a former student worker for the president’s office, denied having Gillean’s key.
Police then decided not to pursue the matter further, James said, because “if we [tipped] our hand ... to anyone,” the key then, if truly in Stark’s possession, “would disappear forever, we would never see it.”
Besides, James said, at that time police “had no information as to any inappropriate use of that key.” And, he said, “You don’t want to accuse the chief of staff of the university of any wrongdoing if you don’t have credible information.”
“We felt we just needed to sit on that at that point in time, and if additional information came to our attention ... we would be able then to react to it. And in this case, it turned out that way. .... Cameron used that key to enter an office ... and everything just kind of fell into place after that.”
Linn said Wednesday that he was not drunk when Stark first told him about the key but said Stark was “absolutely heavily intoxicated.” The two were not in each other’s company at the time but simply saw each other at the same place, Linn said.
“Cameron indicated he was in possession of Jack Gillean’s master key and that he, meaning Jack, wouldn’t want anyone ... to find out it wasn’t really lost,” Linn said.
Later, as the police requested, Linn said he “did attempt to discreetly solicit additional information from Mr. Stark regarding possession of the key” but didn’t succeed.
The audit found that even earlier, in the spring of 2011, someone found Gillean’s master key “on the grounds of the university.” That time it was returned to Gillean without any documentation by the Physical Plant, which takes care of locks and keys.
Records reviewed by auditors show that Gillean had requested grand-master keys on May 20, 2008, and on March 7, 2011.
“Mr. Gillean approved his own key request forms which should have been approved/ authorized by the President at the time,” the report said.
The draft audit did not elaborate on what it called Gillean’s “erratic behavior.”
However, handwritten notes from an Office of Internal Audit interview with Dot Carden, who formerly was Gillean’s administrative assistant, at one point say, “As far as [Stark] - Jack came in beat up & stated that [Stark] wrecked his motorcycle & took it [without] permission. Said ‘he’ would not be back [meaning [Stark].”
UCA redacted all references to Stark’s name before it released the notes to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
According to the criminal affidavit regarding Gillean, Stark wrecked Gillean’s motorcycle in the spring of 2011. Gillean falsely listed himself as the driver and got a $4,631 insurance settlement, the affidavit said.
Stark told police that Gillean became so angry over the wreck that he fired Stark from the student-worker job and “terminated their personal relationship,” the affidavit said.
Auditors also found that Gillean “abused his knowledge of admittance procedures by allowing a student to circumvent a specific application process.”
Further, the audit said Gillean used “intimidation” to force Carden, who now works in the budget office, to approve time sheets for four student workers.
The students’ time sheets often conflicted with their class schedules, the report said.
Carden was responsible for ensuring that hours entered into the Banner computer system did not conflict with manual time sheets and was told to approve the time by Gillean even when differences or errors were found, the report said.
Auditors also reviewed scholarships given to 11 students “due to their association with Mr. Gillean.”
The report said one student received a scholarship during the 2006-2007 academic year but that it was placed on hold because of the student’s military service until he was readmitted in the fall of 2008.
“Upon readmission, the scholarship was renewed for four years ending in academic year 2011/2012,” the report said. Auditors determined, however, that the student completed only 26 hours, not the required 30, for renewal.
The report said auditors were told that the renewal was based on a medical exception, but said there was no supporting documentation.
The student is not identified in the audit.
Stark said in a message sent through Facebook that he received a scholarship in 2005 due to his “3.9 high school GPA/29 ACT score composite.” The scholarship “was deferred for a military deployment,” he added. GPA is grade-point average.
Stark has previously declined to comment on the Gillean case, saying, “It is of no benefit to me, and the publicity has deeply penetrated my personal life.”
The audit report made several recommendations, including one to deal with “incidents of fraudulent or other dishonest acts.”
“Based upon the fraudulent behavior of upper administration in the last [four] years at UCA, it is [the Office of Internal Audit’s] opinion that UCA create a comprehensive fraud board policy and implement a comprehensive confidential ‘Hotline’ for all UCA employees, students, vendors, and others to be operated by a third party server,” the report concluded.
UCA has had its share of legal problems in recent years.
In 2008, Lu Hardin resigned from the presidency under pressure and later pleaded guilty to federal felony charges resulting from an illegal bonus.
Hardin’s successor, Allen Meadors, resigned in September 2011 over a mishandled $700,000 offer from foodvendor Aramark. Meadors is awaiting trial on a misdemeanor charge of solicitation of tampering with a public document.
The audit report also recommended that faculty members save tests “on a pool drive” because students could not then access the drive without a specific password.
The report also recommended that the Police Department verify that universitywide security cameras are working properly, that more cameras be installed and that an electronic access system allowing for closer monitoring than traditional keys be developed.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/06/2012