The indictments handed down two weeks ago against alleged embezzlers Jodie Nealley and Ray Rodriguez surprised Tufts administrators as much as anyone else, Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman told the Daily.
Reitman said he had not had any knowledge of Rodriguez' purported wrongdoing until Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone's office gave the administration a few hours' notice before issuing a press release. The dean had also been unaware that the amount of funds reported stolen had swelled from about $300,000 to nearly $1 million.
"We all found out about it through the DA's press release. ...There was very little advance notice," Reitman said. "The whole community, all the way up, was saddened and shocked by Leone's announcement."
In November 2007, the university accused Nealley, who directed the former Office of Student Activities (OSA) from 1996 to 2007, of embezzling approximately $300,000 from funds intended for student organizations. Rodriguez, who served as the OSA's budget and fiscal coordinator from 2001 to 2007, had not been publicly tied to the scandal until the indictment came out this month. He is charged with embezzling over $600,000.
Students who worked with Rodriguez said they had noticed that he had an extravagant lifestyle, although they were surprised to hear he was accused of taking money from the university. "It was something that I really didn't [predict]," said John Valentine (LA '06), the Tufts Community Union (TCU) vice president during the 2005-2006 academic year. "We were all just absolutely shocked."
Leone's office has alleged that Rodriguez used Tufts funds to pay for items from designers such as Gucci and Prada, and to fund various concert tickets and trips.
"He definitely had a taste for the good stuff," Valentine said. "I've walked into his office a few times, and he was talking about some of the cool places that he went. ... It seemed like he was definitely enjoying himself."
Mitch Robinson (LA '07), the TCU president during the 2006-2007 academic year, had noticed Rodriguez' expensive clothing. But Robinson said the notion that Rodriguez' attire should have served as a red flag "seems a little bit far-fetched" to him.
"I'm not going to look at any person and judge them by the clothing that they wear," Robinson said.
Valentine and Robinson also do not think members of the TCU Senate can be blamed for not noticing that money might have been missing.
"We would trust in the administration - that was paid to do this - to appropriate things correctly," Robinson said. "You can't expect a treasurer - a student - to take the job of an administrator."
Leone's office alleges that Rodgriguez once wrote himself a check for $100,000 from a university account. Reitman said that Tufts has recently instituted reforms that would make it harder for this to happen in the future, but he has no explanation as to how it could have gone unnoticed under the old guidelines. "It presumably couldn't happen in the new system," Reitman said. "How could it in the old system? I don't know."
It remains unclear whether any Tufts employees have a clear picture of how the money was stolen, or if they knew about Rodgriguez' alleged involvement before the indictments were handed down on July 1. After an anonymous tip suggested Nealley had stolen money, the Audit and Management Advisory Services (AMAS) office conducted a thorough review of the unds handled by the OSA, which is now known as the Office for Campus Life.
Seth Kornetsky, the AMAS office's director, declined to comment on whether it was these inquiries that implicated Rodriguez. "Given the likelihood that I will be a central witness in the criminal proceedings, I have been advised not to make any public comments about the investigation," he told the Daily in an e-mail.
He did say that in the wake of recent events, the Office for Campus Life will be audited more frequently. The next inspection is scheduled for this fall.
All findings from the AMAS office's OSA audit were turned over to the DA's office, where investigators with subpoena power had more opportunities than Tufts officials to uncover information, Reitman said.
"The university doesn't have the same power as the DA to complete the investigation," he said.
Jessica Venezia, a spokesperson for the DA's office, declined to say specifically when Rodriguez' name first surfaced.
She did say that her office has not found a connection between Nealley and Rodriguez. "We believe they worked independently of one another," she said.
Nealley is charged with taking $372,576, and Rodriguez with $604,873.
