Assistant to SLIS Dean Charged with Embezzlement
A five-month probe of expenditures at the University of North Texas School of Library and Information Studies has resulted in the January 21 arrest of 20-year UNT employee Patti Patterson Dale, 47, on felony charges of stealing more than $200,000 as a public servant and engaging in organized criminal activity. If convicted, Dale could be sentenced to life in prison and fined $10,000 per charge.
Dale last served as assistant to SLIS Dean Philip Turner. Dale was dismissed in the fall, shortly after the investigation began, according to the January 23 North Texas Daily campus newspaper, which also reported that Dale pleaded guilty in 1995 to check kiting in activities unrelated to UNT business. Although she agreed to repay the money embezzled in the earlier scheme, “not a dime” of the SLIS funds have been recovered as of yet, UNT Police Chief Richard Deter said in the January 23 Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The SLIS investigation turned up evidence that Dale allegedly issued paychecks to 13 people in excess of hours actually worked as well as reimbursements for falsified business expenses. In exchange, the recipients would pay Dale a kickback. Dale’s son Matthew and nine people he recruited were among those cashing the checks. All 13 were also arrested.
“Officials could see the [SLIS] budget going up, but they weren’t recognizing at the time it should have been going up more than it was,” UNT spokesperson Roddy Wolper told the Star-Telegram, noting that the graduate school’s enrollment had jumped from 232 students in 1998 to 833 this academic year. “People were reluctant to mistrust her.”
The arrests came three months after a former employee of the College of Business Administration was charged with issuing some $10,000 in fraudulent payments to several individuals.
Posted January 23, 2004; revised January 26, 2004.
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