Student Busts WKU Psych Prof, FBI Probes

This from the Bowling Green Daily News:

WKU probe finds misuse of at least $33K

Former psychology professor,
ex-director of ALIVE Center
named in internal investigation;
FBI asked to get involved

Western Kentucky University General Counsel Deborah Wilkins said today that former professor and ALIVE Center director Katrina E. Phelps is the “sole focus” of an investigation into the misuse of center funds.

A WKU investigation has centered around the actions of Phelps, a psychology professor who resigned last year and who was the center’s director. An audit revealed $33,000 in questionable spending out of $4.8 million in federal funding that was awarded to the center over five years, according to WKU documents obtained by the Daily News.

The amount in question could change because an audit and investigation of ALIVE Center records is ongoing. Western has turned over information to the FBI for a possible criminal investigation, Wilkins said.

The FBI would neither confirm nor deny any investigations involving Phelps, said James Hendricks, senior supervisory agent at the FBI in Bowling Green.

In July 2007, a former WKU student reported concerns regarding possible fraud in two federally funded community outreach programs, according to WKU documents. The programs provided structured activities for at-risk youth during out-of-school hours.

The student provided a written statement and a copy of a university payroll stub to the WKU Police Department on July 16, 2007, and the university began an internal audit, according to Western records.

As part of the investigation, auditors met with Phelps and people paid through funds from the two programs, according to the records.

On Aug. 27, 2007, the auditor met with WKU officials and reported preliminary findings that supported the former student employee’s statement. On Oct. 9, the auditor substantiated the misuse of grant funds and conveyed the information to Wilkins. The misuse of the $33,000 occurred over several years, Wilkins said.

The U.S. Department of Justice removed Phelps as the ALIVE Center’s contact on grants on Oct. 25 and Phelps was removed from all ALIVE Center duties Nov. 2. She subsequently turned in her resignation Nov. 8 and formally left WKU in December.

Phelps was the first director of the ALIVE Center, which opened in 2003 and is part of Western’s Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Project. Its efforts are funded through both state and federal grants.

The center’s stated goals are to create regional partnerships, provide assistance and training for community-based research and support child care, health, education, recreation, housing, meeting monetary needs and other services. The center also works to match WKU faculty, staff and students with service projects.

Phelps began at Western in 1996, starting as an assistant professor with a salary of $36,000. In 2001, Phelps was promoted to associate professor and she received tenure in 2002. Her final salary at Western was $66,156.

Phelps’ resignation letter gave no reason why she was leaving the university.It read, “It is with deep regret that I tender my resignation from my faculty position at Western Kentucky University effective at the end of the fall semester ... My tenure at Western has been most rewarding and I wish you and the entire department continued success in your academic endeavors.”

In addition to starting the investigation of spending at the ALIVE Center, Western also immediately began to review its oversight procedures, Wilkins wrote in a letter to the Daily News. The university retained Jerry Fife, assistant vice chancellor for research finance at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

“Dr. Fife reviewed the university’s grant accounting processes and while he saw no significant problems, he made recommendations for enhancing supplementary oversight measures. His recommendations are being reviewed for implementation,” Wilkins wrote.

There has been an additional layer of oversight already added to grant budgets. Now, the dean of each college is given oversight of all grants within the college, Wilkins said. In the case of the ALIVE Center, current director Assistant Psychology Professor Paul Markham and Sam Evans, dean of the college of Education and Behavioral Science, will have oversight of the ALIVE Center budget.“Previously, Phelps had sole oversight,” Wilkins said.

There is no reason to believe the current questions regarding the spending of grant funding will have any negative impact on the center’s ability to receive future grants, she said.

WKU declined open records requests for additional information involving its internal investigation of allegations against Phelps or for copies of the audits done by the university, saying that those records have been part of a subpoena by the FBI.

“The university declines to release any related records because the records are being and have been compiled in the process of detecting and investigating statutory violations, and the disclosure of the information would harm the agency by revealing, prematurely, information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action,” Wilkins wrote.

The Western Kentucky University Police Department was initially involved in the investigation.

Maj. Mike Wallace said the department could not provide any information about its involvement beyond the documents provided by WKU.Markham deferred all comments to Wilkins.

Multiple attempts to contact Phelps by phone were unsuccessful.

HT 2 Jake