Prosecutors have charged a former Hershey, Pa.-based Penn State College of Medicine researcher with two counts of felony forgery and felony charges of access device fraud, theft by deception and receiving stolen property after the researcher reportedly made improper purchases with university funds, according to the Centre Daily Times.
Penn State University police filed a criminal complaint against 33-year-old Guohui Wan after a university auditor claimed Mr. Wan made several fraudulent purchases with university funds from October 2015 through January 2016. Police said the reported purchases were consistent with supplies needed to conduct research, but when tracked through the vendor reports, the purchases appeared to be for unrelated material, according to the article.
Mr. Wan was hired to conduct medical research on behalf of the Penn State College of Medicine at Milton S. Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center.
According to police, Mr. Wan admitted to falsifying the submitted documents during a meeting with a university auditor May 9. He provided police with a letter of explanation and resigned from his position May 16.
Police estimate the university incurred nearly $2,265.23 in losses from the incident.
Mr. Wan was arraigned before District Judge Steven Lachman Tuesday, and was released on his own recognizance. The judge awarded Mr. Wan an early waiver for a preliminary hearing. His formal arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 28, according to the article.