A Dover charter school could face a criminal investigation after a report from the state auditor says the school mismanaged its finances for years.
Auditor Tom Wagner issued the report on his inspection of Academy of Dover Charter School on Tuesday. He says $127,000 of the school's $3 million state-funded budget was spent on personal items, with another $129,000 unaccounted for.
"We found a lack of internal controls which allowed for an environment where one person had the ability to make expenditures without anybody really reviewing them -- in some cases was authorizing the payments themselves," Wagner says.
That person, he says, was a former principal, Noel Rodriguez, who allegedly spent school money for personal use, including to pay legal fees for sexual harassment lawsuits. Wagner says those lawsuits were associated with the school.
Wagner's report also found Rodriguez spent over $39,000 on electronics, including $499 on a treadmill, $730 on a 55 inch smart TV and $399 for a Playstation4. It also noted Rodriguez, called a "Christmas fanatic" by his staff, spent Mr. Rodriguez was described by staff , spent over $2,000 worth of Christmas items such as ornaments and figurines
Wagner's report also says the state needs closer oversight of charter schools to prevent alleged abuses like this from going unnoticed. State education officials last week placed the school on probation for a year over the mismanagement issues.
Requests for comment from Academy of Dover, a K-5 school that was named a 2014 National Blue Ribbon school, weren't immediately returned.
The school will be investigated for any further criminal charges by Attorney General Matt Denn's new Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust.
