Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 5, 1993 TAG: 9310050210
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
A Montgomery County grand jury returned four indictments Friday against H.D. Flowers II, 48, the director of Tech's black studies program.
Two indictments charge Flowers with obtaining money by false pretenses; the other two accuse him of embezzlement.
The indictments accuse Flowers of obtaining money on July 1 and Aug. 9 by picking up two payroll checks that were in the name of King D. Godwin, a graduate student who started attending Tech this semester.
Flowers is accused of embezzling $5,100 each summer session by cashing the checks, which were meant as payment for an instructor who would teach one class each session. After taxes, the two checks were for just over $4,000 each.
Godwin told authorities he was not in Blacksburg this past summer, didn't teach the courses or receive payment. When he arrived at Tech in August and learned records showed he'd already earned about $10,000, he contacted the university provost's office and an investigation began.
During an investigation, Tech police learned that someone else taught two black studies courses at Tech during summer school and was allegedly paid $4,000 in cash by Flowers.
The indictments were served on Flowers Monday evening. He was released from the Montgomery County Jail on $10,000 property bond.
Larry Hincker, university spokesman, said Monday that Flowers has not been suspended, but "when we discovered that there was some suspicion, the provost removed him as a signature authority on any accounts related to his program."
by CNB