Superintendent facing embezzlement charges

CLAREMORE Lane School District officials had no comment Wednesday after Superintendent Tom Strickland was charged in Rogers County District Court with four counts of embezzlement.

Strickland, the former Inola school superintendent, will surrender to authorities Friday, District Attorney Gene Haynes said.

Haynes said authorities served a search warrant Tuesday at Strickland's Inola home and found property they think he bought with school funds. Haynes declined to identify the property seized.

Eyewitness accounts from Strickland's neighbors said law enforcement officers were carrying out tricycles and toys.

Strickland, 46, was charged Tuesday with one count of embezzlement by an employee and three counts of embezzlement by an officer. Strickland could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Richard Mildren, did not return telephone calls.

According to court records, Strickland is accused of taking $1,409.97 without authorization from the school district between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2001.

Strickland's legal problems reportedly stem from a special audit, released in May from the state auditor and inspector's office. The audit detailed questionable travel expenditures and spending by Strickland while he was Inola superintendent.

Representatives at the Lane School District said Strickland was not at school Wednesday and in his absence, Robin Allen, a teacher, was taking his calls.

In an earlier interview, Lane School Board President Sandy Goff said she was satisfied with Strickland's explanations regarding his tenure at Inola and the audit.

Neither Allen nor Goff returned telephone calls Wednesday.

During the Inola investigation, Strickland sought employment with the Perry School District and was hired as superintendent in February. School board members voted unanimously in June to rescind the contract after the state auditor's report was released and they questioned his spending practices.

Five months later, Strickland was hired by the Lane School District as superintendent.

The audit stated Strickland was overpaid $9,459.72 in salary from July 2000 through January 2002 and received more than $17,000 in "unsupported travel expenditures."

Strickland was getting a $1,000-a-month mileage allowance not listed in his contract and still claimed reimbursement for mileage and gasoline purchases, the audit states.

School funds also were improperly used to pay for a cell phone for Strickland's wife, an elementary school teacher, auditors said. Cell phones were issued to Inola school employees who were in administration or maintenance; Strickland's wife did not meet the criteria, they said.

District funds also were improperly used to reimburse Strickland's wife for a Miss Oklahoma reception, according to the audit. The superintendent approved the expenditure, the audit states.

Auditors also said the school's former operations director, Ben Freeney, was overpaid $1,538.66 for a two-month period. In addition, Freeney had $1,359.24 in travel expenditures that were unsupported, the audit states.

Strickland also hired a former general manager of a Chickasha car dealership to "inspect" buildings in the school district and seed the school's football, baseball and softball fields. The man, who sold Strickland a 2001 sport utility vehicle and a 2000 pickup, was not a certified building inspector and apparently never seeded the fields, auditors said.

Inola school Superintendent Jake Crutchfield has the task of seeking bond issues to pay for $2 million in lease purchase agreements Strickland obtained.

The lease purchases were designed with a balloon payment at the end of the lease, Crutchfield said.

Crutchfield said Strickland did nothing illegal involving the lease purchases.

"He just was not fiscally responsible when obtaining loans," he said.

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