LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas State Police will investigate events at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff that led to the firing of four employees this week and triggered a special investigation by the University of Arkansas System, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said Thursday.
The ongoing internal audit - sparked by a spring 2010 call to the UA fraud hot line - centers on “purchasing and payroll” issues at a university housing complex during fiscal 2009 and 2010, UA System President Don Bobbitt said Wednesday.
UA officials would not provide names of the employees or further details about the audit, which they expect to complete Monday.
“The State Police will have full cooperation from the UA System as they proceed on this matter,” UA System spokesman Ben Beaumont said in a statement Thursday.
UA System officials provided information to Kyle Hunter - the prosecuting attorney for the 11th Judicial Circuit West, which includes Jefferson and Lincoln counties - so he could determine whether an investigation was warranted, Beaumont said.
Sadler said the state police investigation was initiated at Hunter’s request. He would not elaborate.
Hunter was not reached for comment Thursday.
UAPB and UA System leaders would not discuss the specifics of the investigation or the amount of money involved. But Beaumont said the audit centers on the Harrold Complex, a cluster of student dormitories that had been renovated in recent years.
Before an evening event on campus, UAPB Chancellor Lawrence Davis Jr. declined to answer questions about the audit or identify the fired employees, calling the situation a personnel matter.
He said he has submitted written responses to the auditors’ findings and that the university would issue a statement Monday.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette requested documents Wednesday related to the terminations under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. UA officials would not provide those documents Thursday, saying they would not release the information until they first notified the four employees.
The officials cited Arkansas Code Annotated 25-19-105 (c)(3)(A), which says custodians of public personnel records should “make efforts to the fullest extent possible to notify”the subject of those records before releasing them.
With many details of the investigation still unknown Thursday, members of the UA board of trustees said they supported Bobbitt’s decisions and were hopeful that a state police investigation would bring resolution to any wrongs committed on the Pine Bluff campus.
“We are just wanting everything to be sorted out and for it to be done the right way,” board Chairman Mike Akin of Monticello said. “We want to see anything that’s been done wrong to be corrected.”
Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said in an e-mail that Beebe had received updates on the audit’s progress from the UA System.
“We have confidence in President Bobbitt and the Arkansas State Police to be thorough and efficient in reviewing the matter,” he said.
UAPB has a history of financial management problems.
Shortly before Davis became chancellor in 1991, UA System leaders took out a private loan to make the payroll while the university worked to correct a $3 million deficit.
Other employees have been disciplined after recent routine audits.
A December report by the state Legislative Audit Division said administrative assistant Marlo Thomas was terminated after auditors tracked $5,400 in unauthorized payments that she made in the names of her three children. She has reimbursed the university.
In November, an internal audit detailed $8,092 in losses involving former volleyball coach La’Kyva Walton, who has moved to Texas. UAPB had recovered $3,145 through payroll deductions and will continue to seek the rest, the audit said.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/24/2012