By Christie S. Peterson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The Associated Students Supreme Court case against President T.J. Trujillo took an unexpected turn Tuesday morning when it was alleged that the memorandum at the heart of the issue was "stolen" before it ever reached its intended recipient.
Trujillo filed a report with university police alleging the theft took place in the ASUA offices some time between 3:15 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. last Thursday.
He would only comment that, "I've got some serious concerns as to the way in which the memorandum was handled, and at this point, I am just pursuing my options."
In the memorandum addressed to ASUA accountant Gail Tanner, Trujillo requested that she transfer money from the $140,000 in the additional ASUA Bookstore account to the Presidential Operations account, to be distributed to "areas of need" while the new budget was being passed.
However, the memorandum never reached Tanner.
Tanner went home sick early Thursday afternoon, a few hours before Trujillo placed the memorandum on her desk. On Tuesday she said, "I never saw it. The first time I saw it was ... this morning when he (Trujillo) handed it to me."
A copy of the memo did reach the Graduate and Professional Student Council, which used it as the basis for a request to the Supreme Court to place a "temporary injunction" on the spending authorized by Trujillo.
GPSC President Mitzi Forbes, who signed the request, refused to name the person responsible for bringing the memorandum to the council because, "it does not matter."
She described her reaction to the investigation as "extremely annoyed" and added that, "someone is obviously trying to divert attention from the real issue."
UAPD officer Brian Seastone said, "We're following up on it as best we can."