College Suspends 2 More in Grant-Abuse Inquiry : Investigation: Four officials are now on administrative leave while questionable sending of federal money is checked.

Two more Compton College officials have been put on paid administrative leave in the wake of a federal report detailing questionable spending and other apparent abuses in three college programs that received $1.5 million in federal funds.

The suspensions this week bring to four the number of officials who have been placed on leave after the U.S. Department of Education report was released earlier this month. The report covered program expenditures from October, 1990, to August, 1992.

After a lengthy closed session Tuesday night, the college Board of Trustees suspended officials in two of the programs--Stan Allotey, director of Student Support Services, and Edward Bradley, a counselor with Upward Bound.

Allotey and Bradley reported to Velta J. Jones, associate dean of community services, who managed the three programs targeted by federal officials. Jones and her supervisor, Dean of Instruction James Willard, were placed on paid administrative leaves Friday.

Allotey and Bradley were not on campus Wednesday morning and could not be reached for comment. Willard did not return telephone calls.

The four officials will remain on leave until an independent audit of the grants is completed in December, board President Emily Hart-Holifield said.

In their report, Education Department officials said the college may be asked to return more than $230,000 that was apparently spent improperly on such items as new buildings, clothing and office furniture.

The report also described cases of “blatant nepotism,” in which two of Jones’ relatives were hired as tutors--and paid nearly three times above the recommended salary range--even though they were apparently unqualified. They no longer work at the college, Jones and Hart-Holifield said.

Jones said in an interview Tuesday that the nepotism charges “are not entirely accurate.” She declined to elaborate.

Jones also contended that she never received spending guidelines from the Education Department, and that the directors of individual programs were in charge of purchases for those programs.

Jones was hired to head the college’s extension and continuing education program in the fall of 1989. Within a month, she said, she was put in charge of the three federal grant programs, an area in which she had no experience or expertise.

The three programs provide tutoring, counseling and career advice for low-income and at-risk students at the college and nearby high schools. In addition to Student Support Services and Upward Bound, the college received a federal grant for the Schools, Colleges and Universities Partnerships project.

“There were no established procedures, no guidelines or training,” she said. “I didn’t know if I was even supposed to sign off on any of the purchases.” She also said she never saw the budgets submitted to the Education Department in the two years in which questionable spending occurred. The budgets were sent directly to Willard for approval, she said, and never passed her desk.

The expenditures were then approved by college President Warren A. Washington, and ultimately by the Board of Trustees, she said.

“If there was anything improper done, I didn’t know about it,” she said. “They approved them, not me.”

Jones said she was “angered and appalled” by the decision to place her on leave.

The Board of Trustees last week hired the firm of Coopers & Lybrand to investigate the education department allegations.