Ex-Official Is Charged With Stealing $46,000

A former D.C. school official whose job was to ensure the system's financial integrity has been charged with embezzling at least $46,000 in federal school funds, according to court documents.

Eugene P. Smith is accused of stealing the money several months after he stopped working for the school system as director of internal audit. Even though he was no longer working for the city, prosecutors said, he was able to use a debit card he had obtained improperly to access an account that he put under his personal control.

Smith was charged with theft in a criminal information filed in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors can file such a document only with the defendant's consent. The filing of a criminal information often signals that the defendant intends to plead guilty, perhaps in a plea bargain.

The action against Smith comes two months after Brenda Belton, the former charter school oversight chief for the D.C. Board of Education, pleaded guilty to arranging about $649,000 in illegal payments and sweetheart contracts to herself and her friends. In both cases, the wrongdoing dates to the spring of 2003 and was not questioned or prevented by school system higher-ups.

Smith worked as director of internal audit from 1999 to July 2002, according to the court filing. The criminal case centers on his handling of money left behind by the closing of the New Vistas Preparatory School, at 100 Peabody St. NW, in September 2001. New Vistas was a public charter school that officials shut down amid concerns of fiscal and administrative mismanagement.

Smith had responsibility for closing out the school's accounts, which had a balance of $518,125 in federal funds. He transferred the money into a new account and arranged for the bank statements to be mailed to his home in suburban Maryland, the court papers said.

Smith also arranged for a debit and check-cashing card connected to the account, even though the school's outstanding debts were to be paid through purchase orders and checks, the court filing states.

In July 2002, Smith was terminated from his school system job, the court papers said. City payroll records show that his school system salary was $90,367 a year.

Although no longer employed by the schools, Smith did not close the New Vistas account or transfer the debit card to the school system, according to the criminal filing. All of New Vistas' vendors had been paid, the filing states, and $52,679 remained in the account.

The following April, Smith began withdrawing money from the account for his personal use, the criminal information said. He used the debit card for 114 transactions and withdrew a total of $46,742, the document said.

Smith's case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer. No hearing date has been scheduled.

Washington Post database editor Dan T. Keating contributed to this report.