Providence Journal: Agents investigate former URI official’s work
01:00 AM EDT on Monday, July 21, 2008
Federal agents have visited the University of Rhode Island’s South Kingstown campus at least twice in the past two months as part of an investigation into possible fraud by a former URI official, according to the university’s lawyer.
Robert Felner, former dean of URI’s School of Education, is under investigation for alleged misappropriation of about $500,000 in federal grants while working at the University of Louisville College of Education and Human Development, the post he assumed after he left URI in 2003.
Felner also headed URI’s National Center on Public Education and Social Policy and remained involved with the center until 2004, although he did not receive a salary for the last year, said Louis J. Saccoccio, URI’s general counsel. Felner earned about $174,000 a year at URI, and was responsible for bringing in $6.8 million in grants during his six years at the university.
University officials in Louisville were concerned about a $694,000 federal grant Felner received that apparently never went toward its intended purpose –– to establish a No Child Left Behind center in collaboration with the Kentucky Education Department, according to The Louisville Courier-Journal. University officials alerted federal officials, who launched a criminal investigation. The U.S. Postal Service and Secret Service, which investigates financial crimes involving federal funds, are investigating jointly with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kentucky.
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