Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jun 2002
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
Copyright: 2002 PG Publishing
Contact:  http://www.post-gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/341
Author: The Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

PA. POLICE ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM MUST RETURN MISHANDLED FUNDS

HARRISBURG -- An embattled police program that fights youth drug and 
alcohol abuse has been ordered to return thousands of dollars to the state 
after an audit showed the agency had mismanaged funds.

The Pennsylvania DARE Officers Association, which is already reeling from a 
probe into embezzlement allegations, will have to return more than $204,468 
in unspent money to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

Officials with the association dispute the audit findings and say they were 
misled by Roy A. Willoughby, the commission's former crime prevention 
manager, who also oversaw the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

Willoughby, a convicted felon, was forced to resign in May 2001 after his 
fourth drunken-driving arrest. He is now the subject of a state grand jury 
investigation into alleged misappropriation of funds.

The commission said an audit shows lavish spending on conferences continued 
after Willoughby left, however.

The audit by the crime and delinquency commission showed that grant money 
was not being spent as budgeted, that many expenditures were undocumented 
and unspent money was not returned to the state. The audit also showed 
there was little oversight on how the money was spent, and that some funds 
were used for go-cart rides, miniature golf and barbecues.

Willoughby, 55, was hired in 1971 after serving time in state prison for a 
series of burglaries. But as early as 1977, Willoughby claimed on Civil 
Service forms that he had no criminal record, The Patriot- News of 
Harrisburg reported in yesterday'sy editions.

DARE, one of the nation's most publicized programs to fight youth drug and 
alcohol abuse, puts police officers in schools to teach children about the 
dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. The Officers Association provides 
training for the agency's officers and organizes conferences.

The U.S. Surgeon General and the National Academy of Sciences issued 
reports last year saying DARE was largely ineffective. A state commission 
study from 1999 showed ninth-graders who are program graduates are more 
likely to have tried marijuana than other ninth- graders.

Pennsylvania's funding of the program topped $4.5 million this year in 
grants to schools and police departments.

James Thomas, executive director of the commission that performed the 
audit, said his agency has stopped providing the officers association with 
grants and that the money is instead being distributed through the state 
Chiefs of Police Association.

"We're certainly on the same team, but we cannot in good conscience further 
put financial support into the association until such time as the 
investigation clears the air," Thomas said.

The commission is holding the association responsible for $45,600 in checks 
state investigators claim Willoughby said were for a billboard campaign, 
but were written to his dead stepbrother. Another $1,329 in checks were 
written to Willoughby's mother, the audit showed.

The checks are part of the state attorney general's investigation of 
Willoughby, according to a search warrant for Willoughby's bank records 
filed last year. The investigation started a year ago.
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