Ex-UC Davis Official Arrested, Accused of Misusing Funds

Laurel Rosenhall

Dec. 10, 2010, Modified Apr. 17, 2011

Jennifer Beeman, the former director of UC Davis’ Campus Violence Prevention Program, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of committing nine felonies related to embezzling or misusing public money.

It was the latest turn of events in a decade-long saga that has raised questions about Beeman’s work running a program for victims of sexual assault.

She spent 16 years at the University of California, Davis, before retiring last year, shortly before the university alleged Beeman had inflated the number of campus rapes in reports to the federal government.

Thursday’s arrest stems from Beeman’s handling of program funds, not questions about her crime statistics.

Investigators contend that Beeman embezzled between $2,000 and $13,000 by asking for travel reimbursements and mileage to attend meetings that didn’t occur, said UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza.

UC Davis returned more than $100,000 to the U.S. Department of Justice after determining that unallowable expenses had been charged to a violence prevention grant Beeman administered, the university announced Thursday.

“Those expenses were identified by the university as not allowable under the terms and conditions of the grant, but not as fraud,” said a statement from UC Davis.

The Bee reached Beeman by telephone Thursday; she declined to comment on her case.

Beeman will be arraigned on Jan. 7 on one count of embezzlement of public funds by a public official, three counts of misuse of funds by a public official, four counts of false accounting, and one count of fraudulently altering an account. All the charges carry potential jail terms.

Beeman surrendered Thursday morning at the Monroe Detention Center in Woodland and spent roughly two hours in jail before posting bail, said Yolo County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lance Faille.

Beeman went on leave from UC Davis in December 2008 and retired in June 2009.

In September 2009, UC Davis said that Beeman had inflated the number of forcible sex offenses that took place on campus in 2005, 2006 and 2007 in reports required by federal law.

The university revised the figures in 2009, reducing by more than half the number of incidents reported for each year.

It wasn’t the first time UC Davis’ crime reporting had come into question. A Bee story in 2001 reported that Beeman had written a grant application in 1999 stating that as many as 700 students at UC Davis were victims of rape or attempted rape each year.

At the same time, the university’s reports to the federal government said assaults on campus were practically nonexistent.

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/10/3247610/ex-official-accused-of-funds-misuse.html#ixzz1OaMSUTqz