UMBC Employee Pleads Guilty to Theft

A former employee pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge stemming from claims she made nearly $7,000 in personal purchases on a state-issued credit card.

Baltimore resident Charlotte Alexis Robinson, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft, according to Attorney General Doug Gansler's office.

“When public employees abuse taxpayer money, it erodes the public trust in government,” Gansler said in a statement. “This conviction and sentence will ensure the reimbursement of all public funds and hopefully serve as an example that defrauding taxpayers will not go unpunished.”

Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Mickey J. Norman sentenced Robinson to a five-year suspended jail sentence and ordered her to pay $6,693 in restitution and complete 100 hours of community service.

Robinson, who worked in UMBC's department of modern languages and linguistics, made unauthorized purchases on the university's corporate card from April 2008 to December 2011. The purchases included electronics, video games, books and gift cards. Gansler's office said investigators found Robinson made fraudulent invoices and reciepts.

The state's office of legislative offices discovered the purchases and referred the case to UMBC police, according to the statement.