Wisconsin school district audit shows former superintendent’s fraud
(FOX 9)
GLENWOOD, Wis. (FOX 9) - The Glenwood City School District has released a much-anticipated forensic financial audit that shows its former superintendent fraudulently received $290,792 in educational stipends, benefits and reimbursements.
The forensic audit also found Johnson, and the school’s accountant, Ron Johnson, who is not related, negligently placed $349,650 of school district funds into investments that were not compliant with Wisconsin statutes.
The St. Croix County District Attorney has been reviewing the audit for possible criminal charges against Tim Johnson, 52, who resigned last year as superintendent.
FOX 9 first revealed in January the school district was investigating its former superintendent for allegedly presenting forged receipts for reimbursement for continuing education classes he never took at Viterbo University in La Crosse.
In March, the Glenwood City School District authorized an external forensic audit into allegations against Johnson performed by Intellex Forensics.
The audit found Johnson fraudulently submitted $75,515 in education reimbursements for Viterbo University since 2013, even though he wasn’t taking any classes at the school, according to a transcript obtained by the Glenwood City Police Department.
At the same time, Johnson was receiving an annual $25,000 "performance stipend" to help offset "the cost of graduate courses and other professional development opportunities," according to his employment contracts. The performance stipends he received total $125,000 for classes he never took, the audit confirmed.
The audit found Johnson also improperly gave himself a $38,462 performance pay stipend as a former special education director to "clear out" district funds in a Health Reimbursement Account Plan (HRA). Johnson detailed the transaction in a memo to himself.
But the audit said Johnson never held a Special Education administrators license.
The audit also found Johnson received 226 payments for "alternative benefits" totaling $51,035. The audit claims the payments were ostensibly in lieu of insurance benefits Johnson no longer received but found no rationale for the payments in his employment contracts.
The Intellex audit found Tim Johnson and Ron Johnson, the school accountant, "negligently placed" $349,650 in school district funds into investment portfolios that were used for individual stocks and mutual funds, that did not meet standards for public investments under Wisconsin statute.
Ron Johnson, the district accountant who retired in June after being placed on administrative leave, inappropriately received $17,500 in performance stipends not listed in his contract or approved by the school board, the audit found.
In a letter to the school district Friday, the current superintendent, Patrick Olson, apologized for Johnson’s conduct and announced several steps "to ensure that the types of actions taken by former employees will not happen again," Olson wrote.
Olson will present the audit to the public at a school board meeting on Sept. 25. Olson had anticipated releasing the audit during an open session of a school board meeting on July 24.
But an attorney for Johnson filed a restraining order against the district, arguing the audit could contain private information and that Johnson had not seen the Intellex audit.
Attorneys for Johnson and the school district reached an agreement on August 15 that the audit would be released a week later.
Allegations that Johnson had forged receipts from Viterbo University were first made by a former substitute teacher, Amy Dopkins, who noticed discrepancies in the formatting of the receipts. Johnson had signed many of the reimbursement checks himself, she noticed.
Viterbo’s Registrar’s Office told FOX 9 by email that Johnson had not attended the school since 2013.
Dopkins also wondered why Johnson was being reimbursed for continuing education when his contract with the district provided a $25,000 annual "performance stipend" to help offset "the cost of graduate courses and other professional development opportunities," according to his employment contracts.
Last year, Johnson told FOX 9 the allegations were a "witch hunt."
FOX 9 has reached out to Tim Johnson’s attorney but has yet to receive comment.