Audit Reveals Misuse Of Funds At NMSU

LAS CRUCES, NM – An external audit of several New Mexico State University departments revealed hundreds of thousands of misused funds.

More than $625,000 were misused in nine different offices of the Facilities and Service department at NMSU, according to an audit by an independent firm out of Plano, Texas.

The report detailed an investigation into university employees, work orders, purchase orders and time sheets. Supervisors said more than $136,000 worth of overtime were found to be padded because worker time sheets were not independently verified for accuracy.

The audit also found money was lost when projects were not finished on time. One project originally intended to run four months took 17 months to complete, they said.

Some senior managers were temporarily reassigned while the university conducted an internal review, said Christina Chavez-Kelley, the Senior Assistant to the University President.

“We are making and strengthening internal controls. Every employee, from the top down, to the bottom up, will be held accountable. We will not tolerate any of this misconduct from this day forward,” she said.

NMSU will release the results of the internal review this Friday. University Police officials tell ABC-7 they have made one arrest as a result of their own criminal investigation into the matter.