The College of Music and Dramatic Arts plans to plow ahead this semester despite the more than $82,000 misappropriated over the last five years by a university employee, who was subsequently arrested and fired.
“I hate to say [the budget] won’t be affected, because any time a large amount of money is stolen, there is going to be an effect,” LSU Media Relations Director Ernie Ballard said. “But it was over a five-year period, and this is a new fiscal year.”
Ballard said LSU plans to seek restitution in the case against former Department of Theatre administrative coordinator David Rodriguez, but no court date has been set.
Rodriguez was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on July 29 on charges of theft.
Restitution is the compensation of a victim’s losses in addition to jail time or fines assigned to the defendant during sentencing in a criminal case, said LSU Law student Genevieve Leslie.
Compensation can take place in the form of volunteer hours or monetary payment, she said.
“In the criminal context, [restitution] is whenever the offender, as part of his or her sentence, has to repay someone either with money or donate services to the victim or community service,” Leslie said.
The type of restitution granted will be determined through the court system, Ballard said.
The audit report compiled in May, which exposed the misappropriation of funds, recommended LSU seek repayment of the money and take disciplinary action against Rodriguez.
The audit was turned over to LSUPD, who arrested Rodriguez after an investigation.
The $82,136.60 of ticket and concession sales between June 2010 and March 2015 was taken from a Campus Federal account created in 1999 as a depository and expenditure account for student theatre productions. The audit report also recommended closing the Campus Federal account.
Four employees had access to the account, according to the audit — including Rodriguez, employed by the university since 2004. He could not account for the missing funds which were under his control at the time, according to the audit.