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A search warrant issued by federal, state and local law enforcement authorities was executed last week at Eastern Gateway Community College in Ohio, according to the state auditor’s office.
The warrant was executed Jan. 4 by the state auditor’s special investigations unit as well as the U.S. Secret Service, the Columbus Division of Police’s Digital Forensics Unit, the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Computer Crimes Unit, a news release from the state auditor’s office said.
State auditor Keith Faber said in a video message that the investigation pertains to “matters that both have already been charged and are being prosecuted by our special prosecutors and other concerns about financial irregularities here at the college.”
The release noted that the current investigation is separate from indictments against former college leaders in August. Jimmie Bruce, the college’s former president, and former vice president and chief of staff James Miller were accused of multiple felonies, including misusing college credit cards for unrelated purchases, WFMJ-TV reported.
John Crooks, interim president of Eastern Gateway, said in an email to faculty and staff members that the search came “without advance warning” but administrators were “cooperating fully with all agencies involved” and would continue to keep employees informed.
The searches also come after the college shuttered a controversial free college benefit for union members last summer, which caused online, out-of-state enrollments to balloon. The U.S. Department of Education alleged the college violated federal financial aid rules by subsidizing students ineligible for Pell Grants and ordered the college to stop enrollments to the program in 2022. The college sued the department but ultimately consented to close the program to reach a settlement.
The college also continues to be on probation with its accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission.
