Transcript

Publication: Tallahassee Democrat
Date: Tuesday, July 21, 1998
Section: Crime
Author: Rosanne Dunkelberger, Democrat Staff Writer
Headline: Former FSU instructor racks up more charges

Subheading: <<REDACTED>> was fired from FSU after he was accused of trading sex for grades. Now he is charged with stealing computer equipment.

Photo caption: <<REDACTED>> He is charged with stealing equipment from the Florida House and Senate offices in 1996.

A former Florida State University instructor already accused of trading sex for grades was arrested Monday on charges of stealing computer equipment.

<<REDACTED>>, 36, was arrested at his home by Florida Capitol Police. He was charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of dealing in stolen property, two counts of possession of stolen property, grand theft and petit theft.

Police allege that <<REDACTED>> stole at least $10,000 worth of computer equipment from the Florida House and Senate offices in 1996.

<<REDACTED>> was fired from FSU on June 9 after campus police arrested him on a charge of extortion, a second-degree felony. <<REDACTED>> was accused of bringing a 19-year-old male student to his home and threatening him with a failing grade if he didn’t perform a sex act.

<<REDACTED>>, a 1988 graduate of FSU, had been an adjunct instructor at FSU for three years at the time of his firing.

According to the police report, he was first suspected of the computer theft after one of his former students sold a laptop computer to a local pawn shop. The computer was later identified as one stolen from the Senate Office Building during Easter weekend in April 1996, said Capitol Police Captain Johanna Straight.

The student told investigators he had purchased the computer and a printer from <<REDACTED>>. The printer was recovered and was found to be stolen from the House Office Building in October 1996, Straight said.

After obtaining search warrants for <<REDACTED>>’s home and vehicle, Capitol police recovered additional property from the Senate burglary, including another laptop computer and accessories such as carrying cases and batteries.

<<REDACTED>> was taken to the Leon County Jail, where he was released on a $4,500 bond.

Other items seized in the search may link <<REDACTED>> to other thefts throughout Tallahassee.

FSU police confirmed he is being investigated for thefts on the FSU campus. Straight said police are still searching for about $30,000 worth of laptops and computer equipment taken from the Senate offices in the 1996 burglary.

“It’s our hope that people might come forward who unknowingly purchased or received things from <<REDACTED>>,” Straight said.

Before his firing, <<REDACTED>> worked for FSU’s College of Social Sciences in a series of nine-month contracts since August 1996. He was in charge of a three-credit internship.

In the resume he submitted to FSU, <<REDACTED>> gave his work experience as a “governmental consultant specializing in political consulting, campaign planning, fundraising and strategy and tactics.”

He included a list of Democratic political campaigns he had worked on, including that of state Sen. George Kirkpatrick.

Vic Johnson, Kirkpatrick’s campaign manager, said “<<REDACTED>> was probably a campaign volunteer in 1986. Not a paid staffer.”

Johnson said he had received occasional calls from employers seeking job references about <<REDACTED>>.

“I never could give them much because he was like any other student,” Johnson said. “He might have made some phone calls or licked some envelopes, but I don’t recall anything special he did.”

Florida Democratic Party spokesman Tony Welch confirmed <<REDACTED>> was on the party’s payroll as a fund-raiser for an unspecified time. Welch said <<REDACTED>> was fired in June 1995.

The Florida Capitol Police provides law enforcement services for some state-owned and -leased properties, including the Capitol complex.