Investigation of Citrus College

An article in The Times (April 15) implies that Citrus College was involved in the misuse of government surplus property.

The college has not been implicated in any way. In fact, only one individual, acting without district authorization, has been implicated at this time.

It appears from the preliminary federal investigation that a private entrepreneur, who is also a college employee, allegedly used the college’s name without authorization to purchase and dispose of surplus government property.

That employee has been placed on administrative leave.

Immediately after we were notified by the Department of General Services that there was an investigation, we initiated an internal investigation.

Only a handful of Citrus administrators are authorized to purchase or dispose of district property.

To our knowledge, none of these administrators are currently under investigation by the federal agencies.

Our continuing college investigation also indicates that only one employee acting alone, outside of the normal channels of authority, allegedly misused surplus property.

I was disappointed that the investigators, who were quoted in the article, failed to acknowledge the college’s assistance with their investigation.

College administrators have been working with these agents since March 5, when they first advised us that surplus property might have been misused.

The coordinator of vocational programs accompanied federal agents who were on campus April 10, and Isaac J. Romero, vice president of instruction, accompanied agents to an out-of-district warehouse site April 13.

Although the article implies that the campus was “raided,” only one building was searched by the federal agents. One office was the focus of their search for paperwork that might serve as evidence for their investigation.

To our knowledge, all of the surplus property used in our programs was found to be used properly for maintenance or instructional purposes by the investigators.

In an effort to be vigilant, we reviewed all of our policies and procedures for purchasing and disposing of equipment. All purchases of surplus property require authorization by department heads and must be initiated by a board-approved employee, empowered to act as an agent of the college for this purpose.

Please be assured that Citrus College’s vocational programs are intact and are operating as usual. We are continuing to provide the federal agents with the help they need.

LOUIS E. ZELLERS

Superintendent/President

Citrus College