UNM audit flags ex-employee at LGBTQ center
Former program specialist accused of misusing a P-Card
The former program specialist for the LGBTQ Resource Center at the University of New Mexico, Alma Rosa Silva-Bañuelos, misused a university P-Card, essentially a credit card, for “unallowable/questioned” travel and nontravel expenses amounting to $14,758, according to a just released audit.
The report by UNM’s Internal Audit Department looking at fiscal year 2016-17 also found that the Division for Equity and Inclusion, which oversees the Resource Center, had “internal control deficiencies, including inadequate management oversight,” and noncompliance with the state Constitution and UNM policies and procedures.
Neither Silva-Bañuelos nor her attorney could be reached for comment.
The LGBTQ Resource Center provides support, advocacy and education to UNM students, faculty and staff of all gender identities and sexual orientations. The Resource Center is funded by student fees and an allocation from the Instruction and General fund.
The audit confirms many of the allegations made earlier this summer during an investigation by UNM’s Division of Human Resources. As a result of that investigation, SilvaBañuelos received a notice of disciplinary action for incurring more than $50,000 in travel expenditures without receiving prior approval. She had been with the Resource Center since 2010 and was terminated on June 17.
Of that $50,000, $14,758 was for “unallowable/ questioned” travel and nontravel expenses — such things as meals, groceries, clothing, a tent, Uber and taxi transportation, and holiday decorations.
All LGBTQ Resource Center-related travel was supposed by be approved by Josephine de Leon, the former vice president for Equity and Inclusion. A reminder email to get that prior approval at least a month before traveling was sent out on Sept. 14, 2016, at 1:26 p.m. That same day, at 6:15 p.m., the audit says, Silva-Bañuelos purchased tickets on her UNM credit card for a conference in Bangkok, Thailand. The trip was subsequently canceled.
One trip to Ojo Caliente and two to Standing Rock, S.D., were neither pre-approved nor apparently for valid LGBTQ Resource Center business reasons, according to the audit.
For an approved study-abroad trip to Cuba, Silva-Bañuelos put airfare on her UNM credit card for a former Resource Center employee, despite a rule that students attending the trip pay their own domestic airfare. Further, according to the audit, the former employee was neither a student nor staff member at the time and was therefore ineligible.
UNM spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair said the findings of the audit were turned over to the UNM Police Department, which investigated and subsequently forwarded the case to the District Attorney’s Office, which will decide if it wants to pursue criminal proceedings.