Suicide Raises Questions about Nonprofits & State Money

About 3 p.m. the next day, the 48-year-old longtime president and CEO of the nonprofit South Carolina Autism Society was found dead in his hotel room of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a copy of a Lexington County Sheriff’s Department report obtained Monday by The Nerve.

That report and a separate investigative report by the S.C. Office of Inspector General, also obtained Monday by The Nerve, reveal a situation with similarities to another case last year involving the Columbia-based South Carolina Hospitality Association (now called the South Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association) and its then-longtime chief executive, Tom Sponseller, who authorities said shot himself to death amid a criminal investigation into embezzled funds by an association employee.

That case quickly grabbed headlines statewide. In contrast, the investigation involving the West Columbia-based South Carolina Autism Society (SCAS) had been kept largely under wraps for months.

Kim Thomas, the SCAS’ interim president, told Lexington County Sheriff’s deputies at the time Stoxen’s body was found that Stoxen was being audited by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and state Department of Education (DOE) for “misuse of funds,” according to the sheriff's department report.

The 12-page OIG report, described in a July 18 letter by agency investigator George Davis as “our office’s final report on the investigation,” alleges, among other things, that:

• A former bookkeeper, who isn’t named in the report, admitted to stealing $5,771.02 in 2011 and 2012 by using the organization’s business credit card for her personal benefit, though she said she repaid the amount. The bookkeeper, who was fired, later admitted to personal use of organization funds before 2011 but contended she repaid that amount as well, though “due to the untimely death of the president, the extent of any repayment prior to the 2011-2012 time period could not be conclusively determined”;
• The bookkeeper “confirmed submitting false grant reimbursement requests” to the DOE and the S.C. Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC) – a division of the Governor’s Office – “at the direction of the Society’s president,” who isn’t named in the report. Those requests resulted in $188,819 in overpayments;
• A total of $462,060 in state funds allocated by the DOE and DDC to the organization for fiscal years 2010 through 2012 is unaccounted for, based on a comparison of funding provided by the two agencies and organization expense records; and
• The SCAS president had an “unusually high salary” and “what appeared to be excessive purchases of technology equipment.” The Nerve’s review of the organization’s federal tax records from 2009 through last year show Stoxen’s annual salary increased from $82,232 to $111,615 during the period, a jump of nearly 36 percent. Thomas’ salary last year was listed at $61,912.

The OIG report noted that of the $462,060 in unaccounted-for funds, $273,241 was allocated by the DOE through state budget provisos, which, according to the report, “did not provide any specific requirements for the services to be performed … nor did it require any state agency oversight or subsequent reporting by the (Autism) Society on its expenses or accomplishments.” Given that, the report recommended that the organization reimburse the DOE and DDC the remaining $188,819 in unaccounted-for state funds.

Full story available at TheNerve.org.