The EOC director submitted a fictitious travel reimbursement receipt for over $1,500 and over-billed the federal TRIO programs by more than $7,650, according to a special investigative review released Monday by North Carolina State Auditor Leslie Merritt.

PCC President Dr. H. James Owen, who was out of town Tuesday, said in a prepared statement released by the college’s public information office, “This is certainly not a situation the [c]ollege would want to find itself in, but now that we have been made aware, we have the opportunity to step back and take a look at how we can remedy the situation. We have already begun to take steps to increase our procedural oversight and anticipate having an even stronger program as a result. The review centered on one individual and should not sully Piedmont Community College’s long-standing reputation for excellent financial accountability.”

PCC Public Information Director Bonnie Davis said that the EOC is funded through annual federal grants from the U.S. Department of Education. Those funds are earmarked to motivate and support first-generation college students, mainly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in Person and nine nearby counties, said Davis.

According to the state auditor’s report, after a staff retreat to Charleston, W.Va., in 2005, the EOC office filed a fake hotel receipt for reimbursement in the amount of $1,646.87.

During staff retreats in 2005 and 2006, the investigation concludes, the EOC director also allowed family members of EOC staff to attend the retreats. The program then billed the government for lodging, food, transportation and entertainment for 46 ineligible people, for a total of $7,668.33.

Also, according to the state auditor’s review, the EOC director allowed her son to use a cell phone that was purchased with federal grant money. Between June and December 2007, the report states, the director's son “used the telephone daily,” with bills totaling over $1,700.

The auditor's report recommends the college reimburse the federal government for the over-billing and “take appropriate disciplinary action against the [d]irector.”

Davis said Tuesday that all of the misused funds identified in the investigation will be returned and that the EOC director is on leave until her resignation, which is effective March 31.

The college has named Rufus Johnson, an outreach counselor at the EOC office, as interim director. Cynthia Bigelow, transfer counselor with the college’s Person County campus Student Support Services, will act as interim EOC coordinator.

Davis said the college had not yet discussed the naming of a new EOC director.

“We’re just working to get this straightened out,” she said of the auditor’s findings. “We are cooperating fully by following all recommendations in the report,” she said, to rectify the matter as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

Davis noted that, over the past 12 years, the college has “had an excellent reputation for financial accountability. This is an isolated problem,” she said, “that should not reflect negatively on the college.”

While Davis would not give the name of the EOC director, citing state personnel issues, Yarborough is listed on the colleges’s Web site at www2.piedmont.cc.nc.us/eoc/ as TRIO director.

On the Council for Opportunity in Education Web site, www.coenet.us, TRIO is described as a series of programs established by Congress to “help low-income Americans enter college, graduate and move on to participate more fully in America's economic and social life. These Programs are funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and are referred to as the TRIO Programs (initially just three programs).”

The state auditor’s review notes that its findings were “referred to the District Attorney for North Carolina Judicial District 9-A and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation,” to determine if criminal charges should be brought.