State Police Raid International Sport

A University of Rhode Island investigation into missing reimbursements from International Sport is on hold indefinitely after state police conducted a raid yesterday in the midst of an unfolding scandal on the organizations finances.

State Police Det. Capt. Michael Winquist said it took police several hours to collect documents during a search of the organization’s  headquarters on the western edge of URI’s Kingston campus on Wednesday afternoon.

ABC 6 reported yesterday that dozens of boxes of records and at least one computer were seized from the scene as state police conducted the search.

Winquist said it was too early to tell if charges would be filed in the investigation, but said efforts were ongoing in an interview on Thursday.

“A search was executed at that location at 3054 Kingstown Road in South Kingstown based on an open investigation in the International Institute for Sport and the search warrant was in connection to that,” said Winquist.

Daniel L. Doyle, the institute’s former executive director and founder, owes $380,846 to the university for money borrowed to pay administrative costs.  The debt, according to URI spokesman David Lavallee, dates as far back as its inception in 1986 and spans the terms of three presidents and eight vice presidents for business and finance. The university has tried to collect and is currently exploring legal avenues for payment.

“We can’t really comment on that,” said Lavallee in an interview on Thursday. “The state police investigation is primary right now so we don’t know how long for, but obviously we are on hold.”

Lavallee declined to comment as to whether the university was a part of the state police investigation.

The institute — whose website claims its mission is to promote world peace through activities in sports and the arts — is also on the hook for a 2007 state grant for $575,000. The money was supposed to be used to construct the International Leadership Building beside the organization’s headquarters on the western edge of URI’s campus. Today the building stands partially completed, but inside the rooms are skeletal. There is no plumbing, electrical or heating installed, and grading, landscaping and stairs are all still incomplete, according to a report by the state Auditor General.

Total project costs were estimated at $738,500 in 2007, and the institute estimates it spent about $200,000 on the partially constructed building shell. Receipts, however, could only account for $163,400 of that work being done. International Sport has said the building is not finished because all of the grant funds have been spent.

The institute, which received more than $5 million in state grants since 1999, was censured repeatedly in the report for poor record keeping.

“Normal financial accountability measures appropriate for an entity of the institute’s size were not evident during the course of our review,” states the auditor’s report. “We noted various situations which we believe are indicative of a general lack of financial accountability within the organization.”