NIC sex-for-scholarship scheme getting full review

Investigators want to know how far back a recently fired North Idaho College administrator had been offering students scholarship money in exchange for sex and if there are any victims of the alleged scheme.

“The allegations in this case are very, very serious,” Kootenai County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jedediah Whitaker told a judge Thursday.

Joseph M. Bekken, who was fired Feb. 2 as NIC’s financial aid director, was ordered held in the Kootenai County Jail on $100,000 bond. He is charged with five felonies: attempting to procure a prostitute, attempting to misuse public money, bribery, computer crimes and burglary.

“This is conduct that has been going on for many, many years,” Whitaker said at Bekken’s first court appearance.

Bekken, 36, is accused of offering NIC Foundation scholarship money in exchange for sex. Police, working with NIC and the FBI, created a false student account under the name “Sheryl Roberts” to respond to a Craigslist solicitation Bekken allegedly posted.

Whitaker said investigators aren’t yet certain how much public money Bekken had access to, and that additional charges may be filed, possibly including federal charges.

An NIC administrator looked into a similar report of a Craigslist solicitation last April but could not tie the ad to a faculty member. The internal investigation was dropped.

The NIC Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization that raises money for scholarships and school programs. Its signature fundraiser is the annual Really BIG Raffle, with the grand prize of a new house built by NIC carpentry students.

NIC’s financial aid office, not the foundation, decides how to distribute the scholarship money, said Rayelle Anderson, executive director of the foundation. She said the foundation is awaiting the details of the investigation and that she cannot comment on it “until we know the facts.”

But Anderson added, “The trust of our donors in this nonprofit is paramount. Our top priority is to honor the integrity of our donors. We have a wonderful reputation of doing that through the North Idaho College Foundation, and we will continue to do that.”

Whitaker also told 1st District Judge Scott Wayman that he understood Bekken also had been fired from his previous job as a financial aid counselor at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. NIC hired him in 2010 and touted his previous experience in Arizona.

Whitaker said he believes Bekken poses a risk of fleeing the area and asked Wayman for the $100,000 bond. Bekken, appearing via a video feed from jail and wearing gold inmate clothing, asked the judge to lower the bond.

“I’m not a flight risk. I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I have my wife and kids here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Wayman noted that Bekken had no prior convictions but also acknowledged the potential for additional charges in the case.

Bekken did not yet have a lawyer. “I was hoping for a public defender,” he told the judge.

Wayman said he reviewed Bekken’s financial resources – his NIC salary was $73,720 a year – and decided he does not qualify for a publicly funded lawyer.

Bekken allegedly secured $587 in college funds for the fictitious student with the understanding he would go to her apartment to have sex with her on Feb. 2. Police confronted and interviewed him, and the college fired Bekken that day.

In his interview with police, Bekken said he used Craigslist to find others, mostly men, for casual sexual encounters when he worked at Grand Canyon University. He also said a few semesters ago he got the idea to offer scholarship money for sex and posted his offer to NIC students in the “casual encounters” section of Craigslist, according to a police report.

It read: “Hello, I have a proposition for NIC students. E-mail me and we can discuss. M4W, M4M, M4MW.” The shorthand stands for man seeking a woman, a man or a male-female couple.

Asked about the school’s oversight of financial aid accounts, NIC Vice President Mark Browning said the college undergoes an annual audit, which includes financial aid, to ensure its funds and practices are in line with institutional, agency and government regulations.

“We are confident in the system we have in place related to financial aid and scholarship application and award procedures,” he said Thursday.

NIC officials said they are unable to comment more on the case because it’s an ongoing investigation as well as a personnel issue that falls under confidentiality laws.

Police Detective Sgt. Brandon McCormick said Thursday the investigation is nearing completion.

“I would say that we’re close, but there are some key points that we need to shore up and some of the history there that we don’t fully understand yet,” McCormick said.

Investigators are awaiting a response from Yahoo to a search warrant to gain access to an email account they believe Bekken used for some of the communications between him and the fictitious student police created.

“Some of the stuff that we’re waiting for is to ascertain if there’s any other victims and to try to determine how far back this goes,” McCormick said.

A criminal complaint filed Thursday said Bekken allegedly entered an NIC building with the intent to commit theft, and then accessed a computer system to devise or carry out a scheme to defraud or obtain money fraudulently. The burglary and computer crimes charges relate to that.

The bribery charge applies because Bekken allegedly agreed to accept a benefit, sex, in exchange for providing financial aid.