By
Blake Smith
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Woman used money to help son pay off gambling debt
A university employee admitted to taking more than $13,000 from UA project funds to help her son pay off a gambling debt, according to the results of a police investigation released yesterday.
The employee, who worked as a secretary in the UA College of Public Health, told police on Aug. 14 that she had written checks belonging to a research fund and deposited them in her personal bank account. The Arizona Daily Wildcat is withholding her name because she has not yet been charged with a crime.
The woman told the Arizona Daily Wildcat that she had no savings, had reached the limit on her credit cards and had exhausted financial assistance from family members.
She said she did not know where else to turn for the money.
"I had every intention of returning the money as soon as I could get it," she said. "I've never done anything like this in my life."
According to the police report, the employee filled out the checks and endorsed them with a hand stamp containing a project manager's signature.
The employee said she kept meticulous notes about how much was being taken so she would know exactly how much to return.
When the employee realized that she would not be able to repay the embezzled money, she made the decision to approach her supervisor.
The supervisor called police after the woman presented her with $11,500 worth of canceled checks and five deposit slips. She confessed in a letter to taking more than $13,000 in all, police said.
Her supervisor declined to comment on the case.
The 60-year-old woman gave the money to her son, who, according to the police report, needed to pay a horse-racing gambling debt.
Her son was being blackmailed by the person who was owed money, police said. The man threatened to reveal the embezzlement scheme.
The woman said that during a period of six weeks this summer, she wrote checks from accounts belonging to the Ten Tribes Research Project and deposited them into her personal account.
The Ten Tribes Research Project is a University of Arizona program, funded by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, that distributes information about the causes and consequences of alcoholism to American Indian tribes across the nation.
Detective Jose Sprigg of the University of Arizona Police Department said he is awaiting official word as to how much was embezzled before turning the case over to the Pima County Attorney's office.
"What I'm doing is waiting on the final audit to determine their total loss," Sprigg said.
At that point, the county attorney's office will decide whether to present the case to a grand jury for indictment.
