Jail For UC Davis Embezzler

JUNE 6, 2011

By K. LLOYD BILLINGSLEY

Former UC Davis official Jennifer Beeman was sentenced on Thursday to 180 days in jail and five years probation. Beeman must also pay back $10,525 she embezzled from a campus program she headed, according to officials with Yolo County Superior Court.

On April 14 Beeman pleaded no contest to two felony counts of embezzlement and falsifying accounts. Neither charge involved her falsification of campus sexual assault statistics.

For 16 years Beeman headed the UC Davis Campus Violence Prevention Program (CVPP), established in 1979. In that cause, the highly touted administrator proved creative with statistics, charging that as many as 700 UC Davis students were victims of rape or attempted rape. UC Davis eventually acknowledged the exaggerations.

Beeman “significantly over-reported the number of forcible sex offenses that were committed on and around campus in 2005, 2006 and 2007,” the university said in a press release. The true figures were “less than half” those Beeman reported. From 1999 to 2005, the CVPP received four federal grants totaling $3,168,923, according to a UC Davis audit.

UC Davis officials would not tell CalWatchdog whether the university had disciplined or censured Beeman over the falsified statistics. She remained in her job, which paid $6,118.13 a month, not including benefits. In 2008, UC Davis placed Beeman on administrative leave, with pay, “in connection with allegations that she improperly charged travel expenses to a federal grant.”

Beeman’s use of program funds led to a year-long investigation, and she was suspected of embezzling more than $10,000. UC Davis police chief Annette Spicuzza told CalWatchdog that “She was investigated as anyone would have been in the same situation.”

Arrested last December 9, Beeman faced nine felony charges of misusing public funds, embezzlement and false accounting. She struck a plea bargain with Yolo County prosecutors, who dropped seven of the charges. Beeman will be eligible for “home detention,” but Yolo court officials provided no details as to how this would work.