University of North Texas Former Professor - James Jarrett Glass - Sentenced to Federal Prison!

Theft, in its purist form, is accomplished in many ways. Sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $109,057 in restitution, 63 year old James Jarrett Glass - former professor at the University of North Texas - found out the hard way that every choice has a consequence.

According to information presented in court, Glass was a tenured professor with the University of North Texas and served as Director of the University of North Texas’ Survey Research Center (SRC) between 1993 and 2006, during which time he used the SRC’s resources, specifically its computer-assisted telephone system, professional staff, and student employees, to perform research for his own private consulting companies. Glass charged third parties over $328,000 for the work his private companies were performing using SRC resources, work that cost the University over $175,000.

You look at all these numbers; trying to compute the actual loss is hard to do,” UNT Police Chief Richard Dieter said. “From the police perspective, we believe that the sentence is appropriate and the restitution addresses the potential losses that the university was able to determine. It addresses the conflict of interest and his use of the university’s resources inappropriately.”

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is - no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While Glass avoided the consequences for a time - he did not avoid the consequences all together. Prison is no fun and will prove to be a dramatic change from his prior activities. You do reap what you sow.

If anyone reading has any background on Glass or worked for him as a researcher and may know his motivation for his acts - feel free to comment as I study the behaviors and backgrounds of those convicted of white collar crime.

White Collar Crime Speaker - Chuck Gallagher - signing off…

Prison for Kenneth Elliott Former President of Metro Housing Partnership - Fort Worth, Texas

Kenneth Elliott admitted that he stole nearly $43,000 from Fort Worth, Texas Metro Housing Partnership funds some of which were used to purchase a Bayliner boat. For that he was sentenced to prison and restitution.

Now - you know and he must have known that - every choice has a consequence. You do reap what you sow and Elliott’s sentence to federal prison plus restitution is that reaping taking place.

According to the US Attorney’s news release:

As president of Metro Housing Partnership, Elliott ran its day-to-day operations and was responsible for the disbursement of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds that it received. Between April 1, 2002, and March 31, 2003, Metro Housing Partnership received more than $10,000 in federal grants from HUD.

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is - no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While Elliott avoided the consequences for a time - he did not avoid the consequences all together. Prison is no fun and will prove to be a dramatic change from his prior activities. You do reap what you sow.

If anyone reading has any background on Elliot feel free to comment as I study the behaviors and backgrounds of those convicted of white collar crime.

White Collar Crime Speaker - Chuck Gallagher - signing off…

Texas Rancher - Susan Ray - Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison! Comptroller Convicted of White Collar Crime

One hundred and twenty months in federal prison and over $5.7 million in restitution to be paid, that is what Susan Gail Ray, of Bridgeport, Texas was sentenced to for her role in a massive theft while she was employed as comptroller. Ray admitted that she defrauded the Gasparilla Inn by fraudulently transferring money out of its bank account and into her own personal bank accounts while she was employed as its comptroller.

According to the US Attorney’s news release:

Ray began working as the Gasparilla Inn’s comptroller in 2000 and between October 2002 and January 2007, she fraudulently obtained approximately $6,009,500 from the Inn. Ray was responsible for calculating payroll for Gasparilla Inn and transferring payroll funds from the company’s bank accounts. She submitted payroll figures to Gasparilla Inn, then, after receiving approval, drafted new bank transmittal forms that contained fraudulently inflated payroll figures. She then submitted the forms to Englewood Bank and instructed Englewood Bank to transfer the fraudulently increased amounts from Gasparilla Inn’s general account to its payroll account.

After the fraudulently increased sums were wired into Gasparilla Inn’s payroll account, Ray wired the excess funds from Englewood Bank in Boca Grande, Florida, into her own personal bank accounts at USAA Federal Savings Bank in San Antonio, Texas, and MacDill Federal Credit Union in Tampa, Florida. After wiring funds into her accounts, Ray withdrew the fraudulently obtained funds and deposited those funds into her account at The Bank in Weatherford, Texas. She used the stolen funds to purchase, among other things, a ranch and horses in Texas.

As a speaker on white collar crime and business ethics, I often say: “Every choice has a consequence!” Again, with a substantial prison sentence issued, once again the fact that you reap what you sow has come true. Remember, only positive choices can yield positive results. It appears that Ray clearly knew what she was doing. Some times I find that people get caught up in circumstances and make poor choices that lead to trouble. Here it seems that in the end, Ray was looking for trouble. My guess…she’ll figure out during her ten years incarcerated that “crime doesn’t pay.” Ray is age 52.

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