Illegal purchases alleged at CCS

OLYMPIA – It allegedly started off with a few small things – some toilet valves, a couple of sink strainers, a few tubes of silicone caulk.

But over the course of nearly eight years, state and local officials said Friday, it now appears that a heating-system technician at the Community Colleges of Spokane illegally made off with at least $43,000 worth of “personal purchases,” billing everything to the colleges.

“I can’t tell you how unfortunate this is that this went on, and for the amount of time that it went on,” said Linda McDermott, the colleges’ chief financial officer.

Patrick K. Sater is not charged with a crime. But that may change.

The colleges this week filed a report with Spokane police. The colleges, as well as the state auditor’s office, also have asked Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker to look into the matter. In addition, the auditor’s office has referred the case to the state Executive Ethics Board.

Tucker on Friday didn’t return a call seeking comment.

Efforts to contact Sater, who no longer works for the colleges, were unsuccessful Friday. A man with the same name was until recently listed in the Spokane phone book. The phone has been disconnected.

According to the auditor’s report, at the peak of the losses, Sater was allegedly using the colleges’ accounts to buy more than $10,000 a year in parts, tools and supplies. Among them: a dozen bathroom faucets, seven kitchen faucets, thousands of feet of wire and pipe, and half a dozen cell phone holders. He allegedly bought half a dozen toilet seats, 10 plungers, pumps, bathtub parts, dishwasher parts, a saw, a shovel, smoke detectors, bathroom fans, mobile home wire and an electrical outlet for a clothes dryer. Costs ranged from 21 cents to $506.

The purchases took place from 1996 until early 2004, according to a months-long internal investigation by college officials. Sater’s supervisors, who were supposed to review such purchases, apparently never noticed a problem.

“The manager’s lack of monitoring enabled the employee to make improper purchases without detection by the (Community Colleges of Spokane) for almost eight years,” reads an audit report released Friday by Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag. In fact, the problem was only caught when a co-worker complained.

The colleges, in a written response, agreed with the auditor.

“It is unfortunate that we did not detect this misuse in a more timely manner,” the colleges’ response reads. McDermott said the colleges have changed their procedures so that purchases must be linked to specific projects or needs, as well as a work site. Supervisors, she said, have also “been more clearly trained and reminded of the need” for closely monitoring purchases.

The technician had two supervisors during the eight-year period, McDermott said. Both have left the college for unrelated reasons, she said. Neither is suspected of wrongdoing.

“I believe they were not aware of what was happening,” McDermott said.

Sater, she said, started working for the colleges as a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning worker in 1994. He worked at Spokane Community College, Spokane Falls Community College and satellite offices in rural areas around Spokane. State payroll records show that his salary last year was $39,492.

It is unclear where the more than 1,000 missing items went, investigators say.

“They didn’t end up on a Community Colleges of Spokane project,” said McDermott.

The state auditor’s report, however, notes that Sater built a home during the time in question, and that he was also moonlighting as a maintenance contractor.

Sater no longer works for the colleges. He quit on April 2, about two weeks after the colleges launched an investigation and put him on paid administrative leave. He left, McDermott said, before officials had a chance to interview him about the missing items.

McDermott said the college plans to try to recover the money from Sater.