The Red and Black

Issue date: 7/10/09 Section: News

MULLEN [Click to enlarge]

William Mullen court documents [Click to enlarge]

A University employee, working as a computer specialist with access to student Social Security numbers, continued to work in the Registrar's Office for almost a year despite facing a felony theft by deception charge that in April resulted in a guilty plea yielding a 10-year prison term.

William Ora Mullen accepted a plea deal on April 28, the same day he submitted his letter of resignation to the University.

But, it was not until May 6, nearly a week after the plea and 10 months after he was originally charged, that the University learned the details behind Mullen's sudden resignation. Mullen informed the Office of Legal Affairs of his guilty plea, and within hours Registrar Rebecca Macon removed his access to University servers and databases, and had all passwords changed.

"When he notified us [of the conviction], we took him out of the office and we were done with him," Tom Jackson, vice president of Public Affairs, told The Red & Black. "According to Rebecca Macon he used some vacation hours but was not in the office once he reported the violation."

At that point, the University was in scramble mode. Mullen was given half sick days on May 6 and 8 and full sick days on May 11 and 12. On May 7, Macon accepted Mullen's vague resignation letter.

In it, Mullen wrote "this decision is unfortunately not of my own choosing and is necessary considering my current situation."

On May 12, what was to be his final day working at the University, he reported to Habersham County Detention Center to begin serving his sentence.

***

By all accounts, Bill Mullen was a model citizen at his previous job, the Cornelia-based Habersham Metal Products. He was an IT manager responsible for managing the company's servers, purchasing and strategic planning. But according to Habersham County Superior Court documents, he was accused of using a fictitious online company called Rappaccini-Ga. to obtain payments by "deceitful means" from Habersham Metal starting in August 2005.

According to the court documents obtained by The Red & Black, Mullen sold the company's products and fraudulent or useless software licensing agreements to Rappaccini-Ga. from Aug. 1, 2005 to March 31, 2008.

"He misappropriated property and misappropriated funds during his employment," Habersham County District Attorney Brian M. Rickman said in a statement. Court records said the case involved "hundreds of thousands of dollars."

During a raid of Mullen's home in July 2008, police seized motor vehicles, guns, computer equipment and even a forklift. Among the vehicles seized were an older model Jaguar, a Pontiac Fiero, a Ford Taurus SHO and a GMC pickup truck.

When Mullen applied to the University in February 2008 to be an IT Professional Specialist, court documents state he was still in the midst of deceiving Habersham Metal. On his University job application, Mullen asked UGA officials not to contact Habersham Metal as a reference.

According to Jackson, "two different people [at Habersham Metal] were contacted and they answered numerous questions and one of the questions we always ask is, 'is he eligible for rehire' and they both answered 'yes.'"

Derek Stapleton, Mullen's supervisor at Habersham Metal, refused to comment when contacted by The Red & Black and referred all questions to a statement issued by Rickman.

Mullen was hired as IT manager in the Registrar's Office on March 5, 2008.

"[Mullen] was in charge of the servers and he did have access to everything on those servers, which included [student] Social Security numbers," Jackson said.

When asked if he was concerned about the possibility Mullen may have copied Social Security numbers, Jackson said there was no immediate evidence indicating any wrongdoing while Mullen was employed by the University.

"The University has run two audits - one by IT and one by internal auditing - looking at what was on the servers, as well as purchases to make sure our inventory was right and the purchases had been done in the proper manner and we found no problems with that," Jackson said. "All I can say is that we have no reason to believe he accessed them. We have no evidence to believe that he did."

And for nearly three years, Habersham Metal didn't either.

***

On July 23, 2008, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Habersham County Police executed a search warrant of Mullen's Mount Airy home and the next day placed him under arrest. He was released on bond the following day. The University was unaware of his incarceration, as 2008 documents show Mullen took sick days on July 24, 25 and 28.

Mullen also took a sick day on April 28, the day he pled guilty to felony theft by deception.

An August 2008 evaluation revealed his work performance was affected.

Two weeks following Mullen's arrest, Associate Registrar Rosemary Segreti made note of his overall performance, which she checked "meets expectations."

"Bill is a valued employee of the office," she wrote. "He is responsive to needs of the office. He has good work ethic and gets along with everyone. ... if it weren't for the recent unreliabilty of Bill's attendance and perceptions by staff of unresponsiveness, this rating would probably be exceeds [expectations]."

Three months later, he was in trouble again, this time with the University. NBC Universal sent a letter to the University's Enterprise Information Technology Services stating a copyright infringement associated with Mullen's access to the UGA Network was discovered. Mullen was accused of illegally downloading a movie trailer of "Flash of Genius" from the BitTorrent Web site mininova.org. Mullen apologized, but was found in violation of the University's Code of Conduct and suspended for three days without pay.

In a letter from Segreti to Mullen informing him of his suspension, she wrote, "[Mullen] has been reminded that as a staff member in a position of trust he is to serve as a pristine example for staff with regards to following the University's Use of Computers Policy."

Yet when asked whether Mullen was in a position of trust, Jackson responded: "No, he's not. Not by our definitions."

***

On Jan. 1, 2008, the University became the final institution in the University System of Georgia to implement background checks on new employees and to require employees to self-report arrests and convictions.

The policy requires all employees and most non-student employees to report an arrest within 72 hours and a conviction within 24 hours to the OLA. Mullen violated both of those stipulations. The University did a background check on Mullen before he started work in 2008, but the check was done four months before he was charged.

But even after he reported his conviction and impending jail sentence, he was not sent home, according to his personnel file.

On the day he reported the violation, May 6, he was given the afternoon off, but worked May 7.

In an e-mail from Macon to Mullen on May 6, she wrote, "... [E]ffective immediately, you cannot have access to any databases. [Associate Registrar] Rosemary [Segreti] is removing all access at this time and changing all passwords to our servers and databases. There are other duties you be able to perform until your last day on May 12, 2009."

When asked to comment, Macon referred The Red & Black to Jackson to make all comments regarding Mullen.

In an e-mail dated May 7, Arthur Leed, associate director for Legal Affairs, wrote he would "certainly have no problem with sending [Mullen] home."

Of Mullen's 10-year sentence, two years will be served behind bars and the remaining eight years may be served on probation. He cannot contact Habersham Metal, and is ordered to pay restitution - which is yet to be determined.

Mullen wasn't the first felon found to work at the University.

Cecil Fore III, a former associate professor and graduate coordinator in the Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education, was fired Oct. 24 after the OLA learned he lied on his application. In 1991, Fore was convicted on multiple counts of second-degree sodomy and one count of second-degree sexual abuse against three special education students in junior high schools in Montgomery, Ala., according to court documents. When Fore was hired, UGA did not conduct background checks.

He served time in an Alabama prison from 1991 to 1993. Yet Fore's curriculum vitae stated he taught special education in Alabama schools from 1979 to 1992.

While a case such as Fore's would be caught in a background check, cases such as Mullen's are more difficult to uncover. Jackson said a number of employees have reported arrests, and it would be difficult to find out about arrests outside the Athens-Clarke County area.

"Unless you are going to run a Google-arrest reports over the entire employee database, it would be virtually impossible," Jackson said. "We have local police records but if it happens in a distant place, we may or may not be aware of it. Clearly he lied to the University about what was going on. Most times we are aware, and most times people do report [arrests]. We have had people report felony arrests and convictions.

"In general, you trust people when you are hiring them, you do the best background check that you can, through previous employers, but someone determined to be dishonest can get around the system at times."

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