Felony charges have been filed against Eric Rose, Waukee Community School District's chief operating officer, in part for altering employee time cards — instances that were outlined in a recent state audit and in a school district internal investigation conducted more than two years ago.

Rose surrendered himself at the Dallas County Jail early Saturday morning. He was charged with two counts of soliciting a felony and one count of felonious misconduct in office.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $750 to $7,500 for each count. Rose posted his $15,000 bond and was released from custody Saturday.

The school board is scheduled to vote Monday on his employment status.

His attorney, Grant Woodard, said Rose is innocent of the charges and looks forward to defending himself in court.

Rose was at the center of a 2016 school district internal investigation that determined he fabricated employee time cards, used school property at his home and solicited donations for his son's hockey team from district vendors. Rose admitted to investigators he violated district policy several times.

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The Waukee Police Department, which the same year conducted a criminal investigation into Rose’s actions, found probable cause to support an arrest. But the Dallas County attorney declined to file charges at that time, stating there was insufficient evidence to prevail in court.

A special audit was requested by two state lawmakers after the Des Moines Register published the findings of that internal investigation and police report in October 2017.

Iowa Auditor Mary Mosiman reiterated those findings in the special investigation released earlier this month.

Dallas County Attorney Wayne Reisetter declined to comment on the basis of the charges filed Saturday.

But Nick Bavas, a former operations manager for the school district, said police told him one of the solicitation charges is related to Rose directing Bavas to alter an employee's time card.

Bavas reported the incident to human resources, who told him "it was not legal to alter an employee's timecard to show the employee was working when in fact they were not," the audit says. He marked the time card with a note that said, "adjust as per Eric," according to the audit report.

Bavas settled a wrongful termination lawsuit with the district in May for $175,000. He claimed he was forced to resign after being retaliated against by Rose and other district administrators for reporting the chief operating officer’s misdeeds.

"I'm vindicated (in) that, finally, the public knows what's going on," Bavas said. "This is everything I've been talking about for the past four years. These issues have been there forever and nobody was listening."

In the audit, Mosiman found four other instances in which "an employee's timecard was altered by Mr. Rose or someone else with the ability to change timecards." Changes to time cards were made to compensate for tasks assigned by Rose outside of work hours, such as picking up district tables and chairs from his home and returning them to the district, the audit said.

It totaled $186.34 in over-payment of wages, according to the state audit.

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"As stated previously, because the COO violated district policy in a manner which was apparent to employees reporting to him, he established a 'culture' where this type of behavior or actions carried no consequences and sent a message there was no need to consistently enforce board policies," the audit says.

Bavas also called for Superintendent Cindi McDonald to step down. He claims the entire executive cabinet is culpable for ignoring Rose's misdeeds.

"Many lives were destroyed," Bavas said.

The school district still faces a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by former administrative assistant Amy Patters, who claims she, too, was forced to resign after reporting Rose's misconduct. Terry Welker, the former human resources director, settled for nearly $1 million in January in lieu of a lawsuit. He claimed his job was eliminated after he cooperated with the investigators. The district said it was eliminated due to budget cuts.

Rose, who earns $142,800 a year, was placed on paid administrative leave the day after the audit was released. He remains on paid leave.

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"We learned today of the charges filed against Eric Rose from the media reports. The Board of Education will hold their previously scheduled meeting on Monday morning to discuss the employment status of Eric Rose," district spokeswoman Amy Varcoe said in a statement Saturday.

As the chief operating officer, Rose is responsible for oversight of the Operations Department, which maintains district grounds and facilities and oversees capital improvement and construction projects.

Tyler Davis contributed to this report.