A former top auditor for the District of Columbia schools admitted Monday that he helped himself to tens of thousands of public dollars from a failed charter school.
Eugene P. Smith’s voice was husky in U.S. District court Monday, but he answered questions succinctly as he formally pleaded guilty to one count of theft, admitting that he swiped nearly $50,000 from a charter school account he was supposed to hand back to the school system.
Smith, 46, had been the director of internal audits for the $1 billion school system and made himself the sole signatory on a six-figure bank account left over after the New Vistas Preparatory Public Charter School was closed by the D.C. Board of Education in 2001.
In the summer of 2002, Smith was fired by the school system. New Vistas’ debts had been paid and there was some $52,000 left over. Smith admitted Monday that he used a bank debit card that he controlled to buy items for himself. In all, some $46,000 was lost, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael K. Atkinson alleged in court papers.
A bank teller noticed the activity and reported it to law enforcement, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
Smith’s plea agreement, announced earlier this year, was another blow to the credibility of the city’s school system. A particular problem area has been the city’s charter schools because of what officials call lax oversight and shoddy accounting.
At one stage last year, there were at least four federal criminal investigations into charter schools in D.C.
Smith, formerly of Odenton, Md., now lives in the suburbs of Dallas. He remains free on his own recognizance while awaiting sentencing. According to the terms of a plea bargain he worked out with prosecutors, Smith faces between 12 and 18 months when he is sentenced in March.
