Former UW employee accused of stealing $114,000

He’s accused of forging signatures of students

A former University of WisconsinMadison employee has been charged with stealing more than $100,000 from the university over three years through fraudulent checks, personal purchases and other means, according to a complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court.

Kevin O’Donnell, 54, faces 12 felony charges and two misdemeanors for allegedly stealing $113,890 while he was a purchasing manager for the Division of University Housing.

O’Donnell was fired in March 2017 after the thefts were uncovered, according to the criminal complaint, which alleges he stole money and property through various means, including funneling cash through personal businesses.

The Division of University Housing runs the university’s residence halls and campus apartments.

For more than a year, O’Donnell wrote checks meant to look like housing refunds for students that he would mail to his office. He would then forge the students’ signatures, sign the checks with “pay to the order of Kevin O’Donnell” and cash them, according to the complaint.

“He stated he often chose students that were foreign students because they were most likely no longer in the United States,” the complaint said.

O’Donnell also is accused of issuing fake refund checks to other people, including an ex-girlfriend, and he allegedly transferred more than $48,000 to businesses he operated.

On 67 occasions, he allegedly made fraudulent purchases using two university-issued credit cards for items including kitchen appliances and electronics.

O’Donnell argued that some of the purchases were legitimate, the complaint said, but that he expressed regret over the alleged criminal activity.

“O’Donnell stated that he stole the money to pay bills, pay the mortgage on his house and was going (through) a difficult divorce during this time frame,” the complaint said.

Jeff Novak, director of University Housing, said the division has hired an outside firm to review its business practices and help establish new financial controls “in hope of preventing these kinds of abuses in the future.”

“Business Services initiated several changes to campus procedures and control practices for purchasing cards and receipt policies,” Novak said in a statement.

A UW System Office of Internal Audit also recommended improvements to processes and procedures relating to check-handling and online purchasing.

“We have implemented all recommended changes from the internal control review reports that related to the theft. Additional control improvements are being considered,” Novak said.

“It’s unfortunate that the actions of one individual will reflect poorly on the rest of our employees, who are conscientious, hardworking and care deeply about this university.“

In 2103, another former UW-Madison employee was accused of embezzling $145,000 through a division of the university that sells state government property that’s no longer needed, such as computers and office furniture.

“It’s embarrassing that our university has been the victim of multiple hundred-thousand -dollar thefts perpetuated by its own employees. Shockingly bad financial practices in the past have consistently harmed the university’s reputation and emptied its pockets,” State Rep. Dave Murphy (R-Greenville) said in a statement Friday.

University of Wisconsin-Madison and other schools in the UW system are subject to audits like other state agencies.

Murphy is chairman of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities.

“The recent audit of relationships between UW campuses and their foundations, completed by the non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau, has shown the need for additional accounting practices and attention to university vendors,” he said.