Fraud hotline tip led to Denmark Technical College investigation
By DIONNE GLEATON, T&D Staff Writer Wednesday, July 15, 20099 comment(s) | Default | Large
The State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education was helping Denmark Technical College figure out inconsistencies within its audit when a call came into the fraud hotline, a board spokesman says.
And then the board began to dig deeper.
The state board has not released the audit, but it has revealed more details about how it came to turn the results over to the State Law Enforcement Division on June 24.
The Denmark Tech Area Commission suspended President Dr. John Waddell without pay after reviewing the audit, Chairman James Hayes said Monday.
Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Walt Tobin was appointed acting president.
“We had conducted an audit in the fall and there were some inconsistencies in the audit. We have been working with Dr. Waddell to work out those inconsistencies,” said Kelly Steinhilper, communications director for the state tech system.
“We received some information through the fraud hotline that caused us to take a more in-depth look at Denmark Tech and do another internal audit. Based on the findings of that audit, we contacted SLED within 48 hours of that audit and turned over all of our information to SLED,” she said.
Steinhilper said the decision to suspend Waddell was solely up to the college’s area commissioners.
“We gave them a briefing on the findings that we turned over to SLED and they made their decision based on the information they had. Right now, everyone is waiting on the results of SLED’s further investigation,” Steinhilper said.
Neither Waddell nor Hayes could be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Area officials emphasized the need for the college to continue its mission.
Denmark City Administrator Heyward Robinson said, “Denmark Tech’s very important to Denmark and to the Denmark community. I wish the school the very best.”
Bamberg County Council Chairman Clair Guess said that, while the technical education system is vitally important to the state, it is especially important in Bamberg County.
“We have lost a lot of opportunity in the county because of the technical school’s mission being interrupted and off course from time to time. We hope that the technical school can get past this issue and reaffirm its commitment to providing a high-quality technical education for the benefit of our work force,” Guess said.
Waddell was selected by the area commission in February 2007 to replace the retiring Dr. Joann R.G. Boyd-Scotland, who had led the college for 13 years.
He was previously president of Allen University in Columbia, Saint Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, Va., and Paul Quinn College in Dallas.
Waddell was appointed to the White House Board of Advisors for Historically Black Colleges and Universities in 2002.
T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@times anddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.
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shlomoe wrote on Jul 15, 2009 11:46 PM:
Pretty boy cant be more than 28 year old.
Tobin or not Tobin that is the Question.
Why is Tobin Always hired after someone screws up? "
rump wrote on Jul 15, 2009 10:32 PM:
Kandy5000 wrote on Jul 15, 2009 6:43 PM:
Minnie Mousegirl wrote on Jul 15, 2009 4:23 PM:
think wrote on Jul 15, 2009 12:39 PM:
Also, what did they say? "
sad wrote on Jul 15, 2009 11:48 AM:
Chris' Cloths wrote on Jul 15, 2009 11:43 AM:
cherokee wrote on Jul 15, 2009 7:57 AM:
64bottle wrote on Jul 15, 2009 7:41 AM: