2 UGA employees charged with purchasing-card fraud

FROM http://www.onlineathens.com/  -

University of Georgia police have charged two employees of UGA's College of Education with fraudulently using state-issued purchasing cards.

Laura Cobb Watson, 47, of Statham, was booked into the Clarke County Jail on Wednesday on charges of using state resources for personal gain, theft by conversion, and altering public documents.

Watson was a senior accountant for the College of Education's Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology Department but has since been fired, according to a college spokesman.
Kathy Ingram Knudson, 51, of Watkinsville, is an administrative assistant in the same college department. She surrendered at the jail, where she was booked in on one count of use of state resources for personal gain.
Both women surrendered after UGA police took out warrants for their arrest Wednesday, and they were released after posting bond.
Knudson was on leave from her job at the time of her arrest and had not been fired as of Friday, the college spokesman said.
UGA police Chief Jimmy Williamson was out of town Friday and unavailable for comment.
The department's spokesman, Lt. Eric Dellinger, didn't know details about the alleged crimes, which were reported in May.
"A private vendor from the Athens area noticed a transaction using a UGA purchasing card and felt it was suspicious and reported," Dellinger said, "Our investigation revealed they used state p-cards for the purchase of property for personal gain."
UGA police have arrested several employees for misusing p-cards in recent years.
In one such case, a Terry College of Business secretary embezzled thousands of dollars between 2006 and 2008 by fraudulently using a state-issued purchasing card, UGA police said.
Dellinger didn't know how much money is involved in this case