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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/ct-met-chicago-state-copiers-20100209,0,213867.story
EX-PURCHASING-AGENT INDICTED FOR
SUPPLIES FRAUD
A former Chicago
State University employee was indicted Tuesday, accused of devising a
scheme in which the university bought overpriced copy machines and paper
from a company he owned.Michael Vernon Warren, 60, the university’s
former director of publications and copy services, was indicted on four
counts of wire fraud and four counts of official misconduct, both
felonies, said Scott Mulford, a spokesman for the Illinois attorney
general’s office.The Tribune first reported in December 2007
that the university paid more than $250,000 to buy two high-end copy
machines from A&W Group, a company Warren ran out of his Chicago
Heights home.Michael Vernon Warren accused of devising scheme to sell
overpriced copier, paper to university from company he owned”(Warren)
and his wife owned and operated A&W Group and devised a scheme to
obtain $65,104 from Chicago State University by misrepresentations and
concealing his ownership of A&W Group,” Mulford said. Warren padded
the cost of the copiers by $52,376 and of the paper by $12,728, Mulford
said.Warren told the Tribune in 2007 that the university had
forced him to resign.
On Tuesday, he said, “I know what I was asked
to do, and I don’t think I did anything that was improper.”Chicago
State’s general counsel said in a statement that the university is
cooperating with the attorney general’s office and stressed that the
incident occurred under a prior administration. The new administration,
he said, is “dedicated to fostering a culture of accountability and
transparency.”Revelations of the copier deal came at a time when
university officials, including former president Elnora Daniel, were
under fire for lax financial oversight.A former Chicago State
spokeswoman said in 2007 that university officials did not know Warren
owned the company when they inked the deal for the copiers and paper.
Warren had been instructed to get pricing from several vendors, and he
said he submitted four quotes.The university bought the copiers with
federal grant funds to be used to print textbooks for schoolchildren in
Ghana. The price included delivery to Africa.The state’s higher
education procurement code prohibits awarding contracts to a university
employee or to a firm owned by an employee, unless it is essential to
operations and approved by the president.Warren is scheduled to be
arraigned March 2.
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