Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Theft reveals flaws in U. Maryland system
By Sam Hedenberg
The Diamondback (U. Maryland)
03/03/2006

(U-WIRE) COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Tuesday's indictment of a former University of Maryland employee for charging more than $16,000 to two university credit cards have raised issues of potential holes in the university's purchasing system.

According to charges raised by the state's attorney general's office, Romain Kimberly Johnson, a former accounting associate in the university's department of cell biology and molecular genetics, allegedly paid for 17 personal purchases with a State of Maryland Corporate Purchasing card and a university Diners Club Travel card.

Charges to the account — which spanned from January to December 2005 — included four computers, computer accessories, tuition for her son's high school and about $650 in clothing purchases made in the third week of December. Johnson, 42, also allegedly allowed a friend to charge $3,600 worth of auto repairs at a Mercedes Benz dealer in Virginia, a speeding ticket fine and more than $4,300 in apartment rent.

According to The Diamondback's 2005 Salary Guide of university employees, Johnson's salary was $31,911. The second accounting associate in the CBMG department made almost $38,000. No one answered the phone last night at the number listed for Johnson's address in Bowie.

University spokesman Millree Williams said because the purchase card system is "tight" and has a series of checks to avoid fraud, they were able to detect Johnson's violations.

"Because the purchasing office was vigilant, it was a relatively short amount of time before the system could backtrack and find the violation," Williams said.

But, when informed Johnson's purchases outlined in the charges spanned 11 months, Williams said he wasn't aware the violations lasted so long.

"I was under the impression they discovered it in a single billing period," Williams said.

Members in the purchasing department responsible for the purchase card program declined to comment.

Once a purchase card is used, an invoice is sent to both the cardholder and the purchasing department. It is then the responsibility of the cardholder to file the invoice into an online database and have a reviewer — usually their superior — sign off on the purchase.

Though it has a series of checks, the system is not foolproof, Williams said.

"The card involves a level of trust," he said. "In principle, you are acting as an agent of the university. The minute you plop down that purchase card for a personal expense, it's illegal."

To obtain a purchase card, eligible employees must be approved by a superior and attend an orientation session to learn the ropes of using the card legally and ethically.

Williams said he coincidentally attended a purchase card orientation session yesterday to obtain his own purchase card, and said his impressions were good.

"As I was learning, I couldn't see a way to falsify information," Williams said. "It is a very, very strong system. I couldn't see how something like this could happen because the process is so seamless."

The purchase cards, which streamline university purchases by avoiding paper requisition forms and processes, were criticized as an unsafe method of purchasing by the state's Office of Legislative Audits, which released a report two weeks ago that found the spending of 26 university employees were not properly monitored. It remains unclear if Johnson was one of those 26. The auditor's main complaint of the system was purchases are not pre-approved but reviewed by the office after the purchase is made.

Johnson has been charged with felony theft, misdemeanor theft and knowingly falsifying public records, for which she could face up to 18 years in prison. Her arraignment is set in Prince George's County Circuit Court for March 10. As of Tuesday night, an attorney general spokesman said Johnson did not have an attorney.

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