Orange County Board of Education member Dennis Whitling has been accused of embezzling over $58,000 from the Durham law firm where he worked for over 20 years. Working with a search warrant, Durham Police detectives have seized Whitling's banking records .
According to the Durham Herald-Sun, accountants found "numerous discrepancies in Whitling's documentation of the firm's business transactions" after Dennis left the firm in September to start his own law practice.
"Police and the accountants think Whitling made out 26 checks to himself in 2006 and 2007. Seventeen were for amounts greater than authorized, and the rest weren't authorized."
"Check register entries for the 17 greater-than-authorized amounts hid the discrepancy. The unauthorized checks were either credited in the firm's records to a different payee, or not listed at all."
The Raleigh News & Observer reports that, according to the search warrant used to seize Dennis' banking records, "in 2006 Whitling issued himself six checks totaling $23,318.93 in payments not authorized by Mr. Stevens."
While there does not appear to have been an arrest in the case, Durham's Police Chief says that it may be because the investigation is still "ongoing."
I reserve the right to comment on this in the future.
Until then, the Board might want to dust off its procedures for replacing a sitting Board member. You never know when that kind of information will come in handy.
14 comments:
Keeping in mind that people are innocent until proven guilty -- when on earth is someone who has the authority going to step in and censure this board?
The current chair completely misrepresented what the task force came up with for improvements. The new plan will not solve the multitude of problems most of our elementary schools face and now I really wonder about the money being "redirected".
Are there any attorneys lurking on the blog that know what are legal recourses are?
So, just out of curiosity, did the News of Orange even print an article about Dennis today? That would be a tough one - can Casey put aside his non-objective relationship with Central Office and actually print something negative about his beloved friends?
First rule of journalism Casey - stay impartial. Guess you missed the day they taught that at UNC.
Oh, two more lessons you need to learn -- you aren't the only source of local school politics and it's a small town, Baby!!! Get over yourself.
Tink's Mom
http://www.aconews.com/articles/2008/01/23/noc/news/news10.txt
Tink's Mom,
Are you implying that the mighty Casey is a UNC grad? I thought that Chapel Hill journalism school offers courses in objectivity. Am I wrong?
We all know that Casey is nothing but a tool of the Orange County School Board. We all know that Casey is being told what he can and cannot display in the News of Orange. It's sad that the paper has suffered as much as it has under his watch. In defense of Casey, he is young, naive, easily persuaded, and has not developed the work ethic it takes to be a good journalist. This is why he will not advance to a bigger paper for many years.
I will not allow the News of Orange in my house. The paper is doing nothing more than killing trees. The paper will probably go out of business soon unless it takes drastic steps in changing its image. Compared to the other journalists that attend the School Board meetings, this casual observer notices how unprofessional Casey actually is. I expect someonoe to show up at the meetings to ask questions of its audience. All the other journalists will ask questions to the HES parents. Not Casey. I'm not sure if he is shy, or if he has been told not to talk to the HES parents. Or maybe it has something to do with courage. I really don't know.
He really should attempt to be impartial. It's so obvious that he really wants to listen to only those in power. One of these days he will learn that the ones he believes are his friends are his worst enemies. They will sell him down the river given the chance.
I'm glad I'm not the only parent who thinks Casey is not impartial. The News of Orange has become a horrible paper. Look at how thin it has gotten under the reign of Casey.
Mighty Casey has struck out....again.
So where is Mr. Whitling....does anybody know?? I have not seen news of an arrest.
I understand that Dennis attended the meeting Monday night. I would not have had the strength to do that. If he is indicted, will he have to resign? If he has been the catalyst in so much of this nonsense, will the push to dismantle HES lose some ground?
How can any Board member defend the new application process and the bizarre income bracket question that is neither ethical or verifiable. I guess I just wonder why the Board is forging ahead when none of this makes sense. Additionally, the Task Force has now negated Ted's claim that this was their recommendation.
There were so many other ways to achieve a balance, I don't understand why they chose a plan that makes everyone miserable
This plan:
-doesn't solve overcrowding at Efland Cheeks
-it won't change the demographics at CES
-it doesn't increase services at either of those schools
-it leaves opt-out people SOL with transportation for the next school year
-it eliminates needed classes at HES after spending thousands of dollars to refurbish the building
-it eliminates staff at HES for no reason other than there aren't enough kids receiving free lunch.
-IMO there must be money from some emergency fund being used to pay for the pre-K program. I think we are sacrificing classroom support for subsidized preschool AND they are lying about the funding.
-No one had a chance to comment on the plan in between its presentation and the vote.
-Every single valid point that citizens make falls of deaf ears.
-They completely ignored the recommendations of their own paid-for consultant.
In other words, the Board formed and passed a plan that alienates everyone and makes sure that the divisiveness continues. I wish a board member would counter this post and tell me what the positive aspects of the plan are. It just baffles me.
Wait! I've got it. We live in Hoover-ville. Get it? The Board is operating in a vacuum.
Tink's Mom
Looks like the Board is trying to attempt some "creative accounting". Don't put anything past the Board. Liz Brown hates HES parents and their little school. She will lie to you as much as say hello. I hope that we are not stupid enough to re-elect someone that is so detrimental to our schools.
Did everyone see Casey's article about Dennis? Nice spin, Casey. Talk with Ted, and Ted only, so he can make it out to be nothing more than a "money dispute". Can't we find another town with a sucky newspaper for him to work? Oh yeah, Casey doesn't like to work.
On January 23, 2008 at 6:38 PM anonymous wrote;
"We all know that Casey is nothing but a tool of the Orange County School Board."
Oh, he's a tool alright.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tool
Too bad Casey didn't cover the winter carnival today. Too bad Al was the only board member there. What an awesome event. All of you are just incredible!
Scott
Yes, the Winter Carnival was a HUGE success. Thank so much to all of you that were behind this. It was very obvious that there was much time and energy spent behind the scenes on this event. I am looking forward to next year. Even my 6th grader, who now goes to Gravelly, enjoyed himself. He got to see many of his old buddies from last year.
Does anybody have pictures? It's not too late to get an article in the Orange News. I think the fact that we had a hugely successful, family-oriented event, that was full of fun and smiles may help to show Orange Co. what HES is all about! Perhaps we may get more children to add to our family!
Cheri
It would have been great to see other board members at the carnival. But remember, Al was at the carnival as an HES parent. He just happens to be a board member. The other board members that have children in OCS probably attend events at their kids' schools as well.
Don't forget that HES has become a rather hostile environment for Board members, too.
I think the Board Members have brought the "hostile environment" upon themselves. The majority of the Board has tried to eliminate HES, and tried to shame us as being a "frills" school.
I don't think hostility has to do with their absences. They are probably too embarrassed to go to either HES or CES. It's time for the Board to review what they did, and what went wrong. First, it was the merger plans. Second, there was a smear campaign to paint HES parents as elitist snobs. Third, it was to pretend that CES was at the brink of collapse. Guess what? The end product, after 10 months, was that approximately 20-25 kids will be denied re-admission to the only school they know. Is this fair? Is this what CES and ECES needs, more students?
I agree with the previous poster - a year from now this plan will be viewed as a debacle. The incompetency of this board will be remembered for years and years.
Prior to this HES mess, there was the redistricting screw up that was passed knowing that it was a failure. Al Hartkopf was the dissenting vote of reason b/c he knew it would fail and even told Dennis that.
Here we go again. Another bad plan that was passed knowing full well that it was not a solution to any of the problems.
My fear is that HES will become a carcass that the board will just keep pecking at until there is nothing left. The worst part is that this diversion is preventing real progress from happening at the other schools in need of attention.
The HES blitz is also distracting citizens from realizing that the board has opted out of NCLB mandates and "redirected" 300K - it is suspicious at best.
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