Published: October 05, 2008 06:12 pm         

More Langston audit details emerge

Langston University’s internal audit released Friday has a breakdown of almost $43,000 in questioned costs.

The audit states it was limited to “review of financial activity in four (Langston Community Development Corporation) bank accounts from January 1, 2006 through June 30, 2008.”

The audit was brought about when Fenton Office Mart notified the university it had not been paid for office furniture and supplies purchased. Fenton’s owner Terry Carpenter has declined to comment.

The audit was conducted by the Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical Colleges Board of Regents’ Department of Internal Audits.

The corporation “was originally funded through a HUD grant in 1996” and “is organized for charitable, educational and scientific purposes, including activities that combat community deterioration; enhance racial interpersonal relationship; relieve the poor, distressed and underprivileged of towns of Langston and Boley, Oklahoma; to engage in any other business activities to spur business development, stabilize existing businesses and develop real estate as part of a strategy to revitalize low-income neighborhoods,” according to the audit.

The documents accuse Karen Matthews, who was dismissed from her position of Langston Community Development Corporation administrative specialist July 15, of improperly receiving $21,521.30 by cashing corporation checks with forged signatures.

The audit also says Matthews was paid $4,272 for insurance reimbursements, with a joint statement by Langston President Dr. JoAnn Haysbert and the corporation’s Board of Directors adding Matthews had university-provided insurance.

Matthews is also accused of receiving $1,378.01 to pay personal utility bills and $6,172.90 in unsupported expenses.

There are $9,261.34 in “other unsupported expenses” and $290 in “other forged checks.”

The documents were also sent to District Attorney Robert Hudson on Friday and ask him to pursue charges.

Matthews has not been charged with any crime, though court records show she pleaded guilty in Oklahoma County to two counts of forgery in 1993 and concealing stolen property in 2001 and received two concurrent five-year suspended sentences and another two-year suspended sentence. Langston did not conduct a criminal background check before she was hired on Oct. 1, 2004.

Attempts to reach Matthews for comment over the past two weeks have not been successful. She has not responded to e-mails sent to her Hotmail account as listed on the Langston Web site and her phone is “temporarily disconnected at the customer’s request,” according to an operator recording.

The earliest questioned expenses in the audit are a pair from Jan. 5, 2006 — $21.95 to Bankers Credit Card Services and $9.94 to Eureka Water Company. The most recent are four bank fees totaling $6.67 on June 30.

There are 173 items in the audit, with 61 listing Matthews as the payee and another for “Travis McGee or Karen Matthews.”

The largest questioned expense is $3,260.70 paid to B&C Office Products on Sept. 20, 2007.

Richard Mumford was executive director of the corporation before resigning in June. According to an e-mail from Ashley Gibson, spokesperson for the university, his departure was not “the result of any disciplinary action.” Gibson also writes the school “has no reason to believe that he was a participant in any inappropriate use of funds.”

     

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