April 27 at 3:07 p.m. Patrolman Roland Rodriguez was dispatched to the 1000 block of South St. Mary’s Street when a 49-year-old woman there reported some vandalism to an apartment she owns in the neighborhood.
The woman said a family had moved out of the unit two weeks earlier and had left the property in bad condition. She said she found ruined carpet, one wall damaged to the point that it would need major repairs and graffiti scribbled on other walls. The victim estimated that it would cost her $1,000 to have the damage repaired.
April 30 at 2:32 p.m. Sgt. Chris Vasquez met with a 34-year-old woman who said someone took a recently filled prescription bottle of hydrocodone from her 1997 Nissan pickup.
The woman reported the theft of 90 tablets when the officer met her in the 1900 block of South Tyler Street.
She said she had just filled the prescription at the Wal-Mart store in Kenedy.
May 3 at 1:58 a.m. a 45-year-old woman told Patrolman Chad Jakel that someone had broken a window in her 17-year-old daughter’s bedroom minutes earlier.
The woman said her daughter woke her after the incident and told her what had happened.
Jakel spoke to two girls who had been inside a nearby home at the time of the incident. The witnesses, one 16 and one 15, said they heard the glass break and went outside in time to see five or six young teen-aged boys running from the scene.
May 4 at 3:37 p.m. Patrolman Roland Rodriguez met with a 30-year-old woman who said someone damaged two vehicles at her house in the 800 block of East Steiner Street.
The woman said she found a tire had been cut on a maroon Mazda and someone had scratched the paint on a Ford Windstar van. She said it would cost her $75 to replace the tire and $400 to get the van repainted.
May 5 at 11:42 p.m. Sgt. Chris Bernal was sent to the 800 block of West Walton Street after a woman there reported losing a checkbook while leaving the H-E-B Food Store, 100 E. Houston St.
The woman said she must have dropped the checkbook on the way out of the store and she hurried to her car because it was raining at the time and she did not realize it was missing until she got home.
The woman said she had contacted the bank to cancel the checks in the book. However, she was concerned because she had signed some of the blank checks in the book.
By SCOTT REESE WILLEY
Bee-Picayune staff
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posted May 7 -
A Coastal Bend College business manager accused of transferring $127,000 in college funds into his personal bank account turned himself into authorities Friday.
Aubrey Smart, who was fired by college trustees last week in connection with the alleged theft, posted $5,000 bail on Saturday and was released, Bee County jailers confirmed Monday.
Smart, 60, has been charged with theft greater than $100,000 but less than $200,000, a second degree felony offense punishable by up to 20 years and a $10,000 fine.
Smart has worked for the college since last October.
He was ordered to turn over his keys and was escorted off campus last month after college officials were notified that he had transferred the funds from the college’s account into his own personal account, College President Dr. Thomas Baynum said.
Baynum said Smart used his own personal identification number, more commonly referred to as a PIN number, to transfer the money into his private account at IBC bank.
Baynum filed a complaint with the Bee County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, April 22..
Smart has been unavailable for comment. He is represented by Liberty, Texas, attorney Richard G. Baker and Corpus Christi attorney John Gilmore.
Baynum said he was in a meeting in Austin when he was contacted with the devastating news.
He said the president of IBC Bank, which serves the college’s accounts, told him over the phone that the bank had discovered the alleged embezzlement.
Baynum said Smart’s personal account at IBC Bank has been frozen.
Baynum said he does not know if Smart still has the college’s money in his account.
He said the college has an insurance policy that will reimburse the college $102,000 of the lost funds once the college pays $25,000 deductible.
Baynum said the college will continue to try to collect the $127,000 from Smart.
Smart replaced Bill Vaughn as business manager at Coastal Bend College on Oct. 1, 2007.
Baynum said Smart came to the college with impeccable credentials and served as a business manager with another college in Northeast Texas and as an auditor for the state comptroller’s office.
Baynum also said Smart set up an automated or electronic accounting system shortly after arriving at CBC. Ironically, Baynum noted, college staff was able to use Smart’s automated system to track the transfer of funds between the college and Smart’s private bank account.
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