Jade01
08-24-2005, 10:13 AM
Business manager, 56, resigns amid investigation of records
BY CHARLIE FRAGO ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
A business manager at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern has resigned amid an investigation that he charged thousands of dollars of gasoline for personal use and padded purchase orders to pay for veterinary visits for his dog, auto parts and other personal items.
Scotty McCullough, 56, left his job Aug. 17, days after prison officials began investigating purchases he made on a stateissued gasoline card. The investigation has broadened into an examination of purchase orders that McCullough made all the way back to 1993 when he was hired as a business manager at the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County, officials said.
McCullough, who has not been charged with a crime, wasn’t available for comment Tuesday.
A gas station clerk in Hot Springs alerted prison officials after seeing McCullough repeatedly use the card to pay for gas for his personal vehicle, said Dina Tyler, Department of Correction spokesman. Investigators are still determining how much gasoline was bought illegally.
"At this point we believe it’s several thousand dollars but less than $10,000," Tyler said.
Over the past two to three months, McCullough also started to mix personal purchases into prison purchase orders with several Malvern businesses, including Hughes Animal Hospital, Tyler said.
Dr. Ricky Hughes said he has the contract with the prison to care for about a dozen of the department’s bloodhound tracking dogs. He said that when Mc-Cullough brought in a yellow Lab named Bo in July, "a little flag" popped into his head.
"That kind of goes through your mind. But I figured they have drug-sniff ing dogs," Hughes said.
He said treating Bo — who was given a bath, an annual physical and heartworm treatment — cost about $500.
The state has paid none of the questionable purchases. Tyler said the department has contacted the businesses to let them know of the fraudulent charges.
Investigators are sifting purchase orders made by Mc-Cullough at Ouachita River since the 632-bed medium-security prison opened in 2003. So far, only a few hundred dollars in questionable purchases has surfaced, including purchases from an auto parts store and a feed store.
Tyler said the investigation will go back to McCullough’s purchases at Cummins, as well.
"You’re talking about a lot of records. It takes time to go through them and make sure everything is thorough," Tyler said.
When the internal investigation is complete, perhaps within days, prison officials will turn their findings over to the Arkansas State Police. Tyler said she expected McCullough to face criminal charges.
"We’re going to do everything we can to further that. We believe this activity is illegal," she said.
Prison officials said Mc-Cullough used a personal identification number from another prison employee to fill his gas tank. He probably obtained that number in the course of his duties as business manager, they said.
Jerry E. Spratt, assistant legislative auditor, said abuses like those prison officials say McCullough committed aren’t common. Tyler agreed, saying she could recall only a couple of similar incidents, including the case of a bookkeeper at the Benton Work Release Center sentenced to 20 years two weeks ago for embezzling money from inmates; and a business manager at the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Lee County who was fired about five years ago for arranging a no-bid contract with a spouse.
But abuses aren’t always easy to spot. Monthly reports are submitted on all state vehicles, but McCullough’s alleged abuses wouldn’t necessarily have been caught in an audit, Spratt said.
The primary responsibility lies with the agency, he said.
"Someone should be reviewing those reports. They should be able to detect that there are way too many gallons being used for that particular vehicle," he said.
Tyler said the department is considering implementing safeguards to prevent abuses. One step would be to assign a personal identification number to an individual employee rather than having numbers assigned to a vehicle, making it easier to identify wrongdoing.
In the end, though, for employees with financial duties it comes down to trust, she said.
"In any kind of operation, you got to trust some people," Tyler said. "He was obviously trusted in that position, and he may have violated that trust."
This story was published Wednesday, August 24, 2005
BY CHARLIE FRAGO ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
A business manager at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern has resigned amid an investigation that he charged thousands of dollars of gasoline for personal use and padded purchase orders to pay for veterinary visits for his dog, auto parts and other personal items.
Scotty McCullough, 56, left his job Aug. 17, days after prison officials began investigating purchases he made on a stateissued gasoline card. The investigation has broadened into an examination of purchase orders that McCullough made all the way back to 1993 when he was hired as a business manager at the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County, officials said.
McCullough, who has not been charged with a crime, wasn’t available for comment Tuesday.
A gas station clerk in Hot Springs alerted prison officials after seeing McCullough repeatedly use the card to pay for gas for his personal vehicle, said Dina Tyler, Department of Correction spokesman. Investigators are still determining how much gasoline was bought illegally.
"At this point we believe it’s several thousand dollars but less than $10,000," Tyler said.
Over the past two to three months, McCullough also started to mix personal purchases into prison purchase orders with several Malvern businesses, including Hughes Animal Hospital, Tyler said.
Dr. Ricky Hughes said he has the contract with the prison to care for about a dozen of the department’s bloodhound tracking dogs. He said that when Mc-Cullough brought in a yellow Lab named Bo in July, "a little flag" popped into his head.
"That kind of goes through your mind. But I figured they have drug-sniff ing dogs," Hughes said.
He said treating Bo — who was given a bath, an annual physical and heartworm treatment — cost about $500.
The state has paid none of the questionable purchases. Tyler said the department has contacted the businesses to let them know of the fraudulent charges.
Investigators are sifting purchase orders made by Mc-Cullough at Ouachita River since the 632-bed medium-security prison opened in 2003. So far, only a few hundred dollars in questionable purchases has surfaced, including purchases from an auto parts store and a feed store.
Tyler said the investigation will go back to McCullough’s purchases at Cummins, as well.
"You’re talking about a lot of records. It takes time to go through them and make sure everything is thorough," Tyler said.
When the internal investigation is complete, perhaps within days, prison officials will turn their findings over to the Arkansas State Police. Tyler said she expected McCullough to face criminal charges.
"We’re going to do everything we can to further that. We believe this activity is illegal," she said.
Prison officials said Mc-Cullough used a personal identification number from another prison employee to fill his gas tank. He probably obtained that number in the course of his duties as business manager, they said.
Jerry E. Spratt, assistant legislative auditor, said abuses like those prison officials say McCullough committed aren’t common. Tyler agreed, saying she could recall only a couple of similar incidents, including the case of a bookkeeper at the Benton Work Release Center sentenced to 20 years two weeks ago for embezzling money from inmates; and a business manager at the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Lee County who was fired about five years ago for arranging a no-bid contract with a spouse.
But abuses aren’t always easy to spot. Monthly reports are submitted on all state vehicles, but McCullough’s alleged abuses wouldn’t necessarily have been caught in an audit, Spratt said.
The primary responsibility lies with the agency, he said.
"Someone should be reviewing those reports. They should be able to detect that there are way too many gallons being used for that particular vehicle," he said.
Tyler said the department is considering implementing safeguards to prevent abuses. One step would be to assign a personal identification number to an individual employee rather than having numbers assigned to a vehicle, making it easier to identify wrongdoing.
In the end, though, for employees with financial duties it comes down to trust, she said.
"In any kind of operation, you got to trust some people," Tyler said. "He was obviously trusted in that position, and he may have violated that trust."
This story was published Wednesday, August 24, 2005