By Joshua Phelps
The Scene staff
The Forest Park campus has been buzzing for the past week in reaction to news that St. Louis Community College is accusing an employee of stealing $5.4 million over 10 years.
The college filed a civil lawsuit on April 30 in St. Louis County Circuit Court against Donald Robison for allegedly diverting the state funds to a fictitious company, beginning in 2008. He is manager of corporate solutions for the STLCC Workforce Solutions Group, which offers “programs and services designed to advance people, businesses and communities,” according to its web page.
Robison has been placed on administrative leave pending completion of an investigation, according to an STLCC news release emailed May 1.
“Also, we’re seeking to freeze his accounts in an attempt to recover any money that we can for the state,” Chancellor Jeff Pittman said in a telephone interview with The Scene.
Robison has worked 27 years for the college.
Pittman said another employee discovered “financial irregularities” that prompted the college to begin an investigation.
“What we have discovered so far is that this was not college money,” Pittman said. “This was money that came from a state account, and for years this individual had been diverting funds into his company. We’re taking immediate actions against this.”
STLCC is one of 12 colleges contracted by the state to administer the Missouri Community College New Jobs Training Program in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
At STLCC, the contract is handled by the Workforce Solutions Group. The group is based at the Corporate College building in Bridgeton, but it has offices on individual campuses, including Forest Park.
According to the lawsuit, Robison registered a fictitious company, called “MS Services,” with the state and portrayed it as a third-party vendor that was providing job training.
“Donald Robison began creating and submitting requisitions to the Training Fund on behalf of MS Services for non-existent training services,” the lawsuit states. “In response to each requisition, the fiscal agent paid MS Services for training services, which it never performed.”
The college has hired the audit firm BKD CPA & Advisors and the law firm Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale in St. Louis to help with the investigation.
to aid us in this investigation,” Pittman said.
Robison could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Matt Fry, declined to comment.
Josi Nielsen, communications director for the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office, said no criminal charges had been filed against Robison as of May 1. No further information was available on Missouri Case.net as of Wednesday, when state offices were closed for Truman Day.
Missouri Rep. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis, called the alleged theft “terrible.” He serves the 77th district, which includes the Forest Park campus.
“I have a great deal of respect for Chancellor Pittman, and I’m confident he’s going to figure out how this happened and take the appropriate remedies,” Roberts said.
Tommie Frison, an assistant biology professor at Forest Park, said he doesn’t understand how someone could steal $5.4 million without it being noticed by the people who allocate funds and supervise programs.
“I thought they had in place checks and balances where every penny was accounted for,” he said. “For an individual here to manipulate that amount of money, and for the state not to be able to account for where it went, it just seems fishy to me.”
Human services major Sophia Allen, 61, said it’s a “shame” funding was taken away from Workforce Solutions Group programs, which help students get job training.
She participated in a program that specifically applied to “displaced workers.”
“Thank god, I made it through,” she said. “I graduate in May.”
The public first heard about the investigation on April 25 through an STLCC news release that didn’t mention Robison’s name and provided few details.
“St. Louis Community College uncovered financial irregularities in one of its job training programs,” the release stated. “Upon discovery, we immediately launched an internal investigation, which resulted in the suspension of an employee responsible for oversight of the program.”
That email was followed by another STLCC news release on May 1 that named Robison and announced that he had been placed on administrative leave.
“It is believed Robison diverted funds over a period of several years in an amount not less than $5.4 million,” it stated. “After notifying law enforcement authorities and potentially affected state agencies, St. Louis Community College filed a lawsuit April 30, 2019, for damages and injunctive relief against Robison for mismanagement of funds.”
Also on May 1, STLCC employees received an email with similar information, as well as the following statement:
“By taking immediate and decisive action against damaging and fraudulent actions, the College will continue to show that we are a trusted provider of education and job training for the St. Louis region.”
Robison has largely disappeared from the Internet. A quick search on Wednesday showed:
- His name, email and phone number have been removed from the contact page on the STLCC Workforce Solutions Group website.
- His posts have been removed from the Workforce Development News online newsletter. The only listing is a biographical sentence that states in past tense, “Don Robison served as manager, corporate services; the customized training and economic unit of the workforce solutions group of St. Louis Community College.”
- His name has been removed from the Apprenticeship Contacts page on the STLCC website.
- His LinkedIn profile has been deleted.
- His Twitter account has been deleted.
- His profile as a Board of Directors member has been removed from the website of the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers, which is affiliated with the American Association of Community Colleges.
- His name and contact information are still listed in a membership directory on the Missouri Economic Development Council website.
- His contact information is still listed in the St. Louis Community College section on the website of Manufacturing Institute in Washington, D.C.