A university employee was charged with fraud and theft after he spent upwards of $10,000 buying items such as a lawnmower and a satellite dish on a university credit card, according to university police reports.

Remohn Howard, 30, a senior application systems analyst for the department of molecular and cellular biology was arrested Oct. 17 and is being charged with three counts of fraud, one count of theft and one count of interfering with an educational institution, the report stated.

The report charges Howard with using the university credit card to purchase a wide variety of high-priced items for personal use, including a lawnmower, a DVD system with monitor for use in vehicles, a digital camera, a DVD System, a VCR, a leather chair and a satellite dish.

The report also charged Howard with refusing to turn in receipts to report the purchases to the department and making changes to the receipts that he did turn in.

The items were recovered from Howard's residence in Casa Grande. Three university detectives made the trip to Howard's home in Casa Grande after obtaining a search warrant via telephone, the report stated.

Once police arrived at the house, they met up with Howard's wife, Tanya. When asked by police if she understood the situation that her husband was in, she said, "I know we don't have much money right now. We've been going through financial hardships, so some of this seems odd to me," reports stated.

Police also asked her if she had ever questioned him on how he was able to buy some of these expensive items. She said that her husband knew that he had to get receipts to the business office but that the UA "didn't care," reports stated.

The three charges of fraud are all felonies, which could mean jail time if Howard is found guilty, said Cmdr. Brain Seastone of the University of Arizona Police Department.

Charges of theft and fraud can also require the suspect to pay restitution to the university.

Howard was responsible for the maintenance of the department's computers, and received a university credit card so that he could purchase equipment he might need, reports stated.

He was still employed at the UA as of yesterday, according to human resources.

University employees who need credit cards for their jobs receive them after being approved by their department head, said Misty McCormick, the purchase card coordinator. The credit cards are broken down into three categories: purchase cards, departmental cards and travel cards. The purchase cards and the departmental cards are only given to employees and are directly linked to UA funds. Departments that issue these cards must verify the use of all funds.

"I would say that roughly 1,500 employees on campus have a university-linked credit card," McCormick said.

Barbara Johnson, the senior business manager for the department of molecular and cellular biology stated in the report that when someone makes a purchase with the card, a "P-card Order Form" is submitted to the department's business office, which gives a detailed description of the item purchased and the reasons for the purchase. A receipt is required for purchase.

Johnson stated in the report that for the past several weeks the business office had been experiencing problems obtaining the purchase receipts from Mr. Howard. Ms. Johnson went on to obtain receipts from the vendors and contacted police after realizing that several of the items purchased were not work-related.

Seastone said that fraud of this type is not a widespread problem on campus and is usually managed within the respective departments before it gets to the police.

John C. Buckingham, a former director of the graduate business program, was indicted by a grand jury in November 2001 for a class two felony of fraudulent scheme and artifice. Buckingham had spent about $20,000 in university funds on personal uses during business trips. He used some of the money to hire an escort service.