A former superintendent accused of taking lavish trips on your dime was also investigated for fraud several years ago.
A state audit claims Bart Anderson spent nearly $100,000 for personal use over a five-year period when he was superintendent at the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio.
Anderson’s name popped up on a leaked U.S. Justice Department list of 10 thousand people who spent a total of $7.3 million on fake high school and college degrees.
An article posted on the Spokesman-Review listed Anderson as a buyer of a fake college degree. Anderson says he applied for the education program at St. Regis University, based in the Republic of Liberia in Western Africa. He received a diploma for $200 and then news reports exposed the university as a diploma mill.
“There was a brief period of time where I thought this was a legitimate institution and legitimately providing diplomas,” Bart Anderson said in a 2008 interview with Newsradio 610 WTVN. “The false accreditation papers they put together in the elaborate scheme was one, I unfortunately got duped by.”
Anderson was soon cleared and kept working at the ESC of Central Ohio. That was until an initial state audit showed abuse of the company credit card.
Anderson resigned in 2013 and the auditor launched a special investigation uncovering nearly $100,000 in public money spent at high-end hotels, restaurants and bars. Other bogus receipts and missing financial documents have the case in the hands of prosecutors and the state ethic’s commission.
We worked to track down Anderson for comment but records show he no longer lives in the state and has a place in downtown Chicago.
Source: myfox28columbus
