Auditor Says 2 UC Employees Misused $40,000

Two former University of California employees misused more than $40,000 in state and local funds, including at least $12,680 that they put to personal use, the state auditor says.

The auditor said the former director and administrative assistant of the Student Opportunity and Access Program at UC San Diego were involved in the improper activities.

The Student Opportunity and Access Program is designed to help low-income and minority students go to college and to assist community college students in transferring to four-year schools.

Results of the investigation were referred to state and federal authorities for possible use in criminal and civil proceedings, the auditor said in a report released Tuesday.

Neither of the former employees, who resigned during the probe, was named in the report.

State auditors said the director misappropriated more than $6,000 by writing checks to herself and her husband from a secret, unauthorized bank account.

The administrative assistant made personal use of more than $6,585 by falsifying payroll documents, forging signatures on payroll checks and forging the program’s endorsement on checks from other organizations, the report said.

Among other things, the report released Tuesday also said that:

* The director and administrative assistant submitted false payroll forms to generate money for the petty cash fund and to make authorized payments to student employees, who allegedly cashed the payroll checks, kept $20 to $25 and gave the remaining cash to the director.

* The director told her staff to submit at least $10,956 in false mileage reimbursement claims to obtain money for unauthorized uses, such as payments to students, petty cash and food.

State Auditor Kurt Sjoberg said his investigators concluded that at least $12,680 of the $40,000 went to the director and administrative assistant. He said he did not know how much of the rest of the money benefited the two officials.