FAMU AD arrested, accused of stealing $24K from former job
Suggs, 55, is charged with grand theft and scheme to defraud, as well as four misdemeanor counts of false claims on travel vouchers. She turned herself in to authorities Monday at the Leon County (Fla.) Detention Facility.
Suggs posted a $13,500 bond and was released Monday afternoon.
Florida A&M hired Suggs as its new athletic director on a three-year, $750,000 contract just nine months ago.
"While the matter is unrelated to her duties as an employee at FAMU, we are monitoring the situation and will respond in the future as appropriate," FAMU interim president Timothy Beard said in a statement.
Prior to FAMU, Suggs worked as the president and CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation (FSF). An investigation began in November 2024 following an audit of Suggs' business credit card purchases, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
"The investigation revealed Suggs misused her FSF-issued credit card to make wire transfers and cash withdraws and personal purchases at casinos during business trips, totaling more than $24,000," the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in a statement. "She then falsified travel vouchers, coding the unauthorized charges as meals.
"When asked about the unauthorized charges, Suggs claimed some were for business meals and others were accidentally charged to the business card. She failed to fully repay (the foundation) for her personal expenditures."
--Field Level Media
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
a minute ago
- The Independent
Ranger fired for hanging transgender flag in Yosemite and park visitors may face prosecution
A Yosemite National Park ranger was fired after hanging a pride flag from El Capitan while some visitors face potential prosecution for alleged violations of protest restrictions that have been tightened under President Donald Trump. Shannon 'SJ' Joslin, a ranger and biologist who studies bats, said they hung a 66-foot wide transgender pride flag on the famous climbing wall that looms over the California park's main thoroughfare for about two hours on May 20 before taking it down voluntarily. A termination letter they received last week accused Joslin of 'failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct" in their capacity as a biologist and cited the May demonstration. 'I was really hurting because there were a lot of policies coming from the current administration that target trans people, and I'm nonbinary,' Joslin, 35, told The Associated Press, adding that hanging the flag was a way to 'tell myself ... that we're all safe in national parks.' Joslin said their firing sends the opposite message: "If you're a federal worker and you have any kind of identity that doesn't agree with this current administration, then you must be silent, or you will be eliminated.' Park officials on Tuesday said they were working with the U.S. Justice Department to pursue visitors and workers who violated restrictions on demonstrations at the park that had more than 4 million visitors last year. The agencies "are pursuing administrative action against several Yosemite National Park employees and possible criminal charges against several park visitors who are alleged to have violated federal laws and regulations related to demonstrations," National Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said. Joslin said a group of seven climbers including two other park rangers hung the flag. The other rangers are on administrative leave pending an investigation, Joslin said. Flags have long been displayed from El Capitan without consequences, said Joanna Citron Day, a former federal attorney who is now with the advocacy group Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility. She said the group is representing Joslin, but there is no pending legal case. On May 21, a day after the flag display, Acting Superintendent Ray McPadden signed a rule prohibiting people from hanging banners, flags or signs larger than 15 square feet in park areas designated as 'wilderness' or 'potential wilderness.' That covers 94% of the park, according to Yosemite's website. Parks officials defend restriction on protests Parks officials said the new restriction on demonstrations was needed to preserve Yosemite's wilderness and protect climbers. 'We take the protection of the park's resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,' Pawlitz said. It followed a widely publicized instance in February of demonstrators hanging an upside down American flag on El Capitan in the wake of the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration. Among the small group of climbers who helped hang the flag was Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist and drag queen who uses the performance art to raise awareness of conservation issues. For the past five years, Gonia has helped throw a Pride event in Yosemite for park employees and their allies. She said they hung the transgender flag on the granite monolith to drive home the point that being transgender is natural. Trump has limited access to gender-affirming medical treatments, banned trans women from competing in women's sports, removed trans people from the military and changed the federal definition of sex to exclude the concept of gender identity. Gonia called the firing unjust. Joslin said they hung the flag in their free time, as a private citizen. 'SJ is a respected pillar within the Yosemite community, a tireless volunteer who consistently goes above and beyond," Gonia said. Jayson O'Neill with the advocacy group Save Our Parks said Joslin's firing appears aimed at intimidating park employees about expressing their views as the Trump administration pursues broad cuts to the federal workforce. Since Trump took office, the National Park Service has lost approximately 2,500 employees from a workforce that had about 10,000 people, Wade said. The Republican president is proposing a $900 million cut to the agency's budget next year. Parks have First Amendment areas Pawlitz said numerous visitors complained about unauthorized demonstrations on El Capitan earlier in the year. Many parks have designated 'First Amendment areas' where groups 25 or fewer people can protest without a permit. Yosemite has several First Amendment areas, including one in Yosemite Valley, where El Capitan is located. Park service rules on demonstrations have been around for decades and withstood several court challenges, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers. He was not aware of any changes in how those rules are enforced under Trump. ___ Associated Press journalist Brittany Peterson contributed reporting from Denver.
The Guardian
3 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Idaho students' killer had reputation for being sexist and creepy, records reveal
Bryan Kohberger developed a reputation for being sexist and creepy while attending a criminal justice program in the months before he killed four University of Idaho students in 2022, fellow grad students told investigators. His behavior was so problematic that one Washington State University faculty member told co-workers that if he ever became a professor, he would probably stalk or sexually abuse his future students, according to the documents. She urged her co-workers to cut Kohberger's funding to remove him from the program. 'He is smart enough that in four years we will have to give him a PhD,' the woman told her colleagues, according to the report from Idaho state police detective Ryan O'Harra. She continued: 'Mark my word, I work with predators, if we give him a PhD, that's the guy [in] many years when he is a professor, we will hear is harassing, stalking, and sexually abusing … his students at wherever university.' Summaries of the interviews with students and instructors at Washington State University were included among more than 550 pages of investigation documents released by Idaho state police in recent days in response to public record requests. Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison without parole in July for the stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at a rental home near the Moscow, Idaho, campus early on 13 November 2022. The WSU faculty member told investigators that Kohberger would sometimes go into an office where several female grad students worked, physically blocking the door. Sometimes, she would hear one of the women say, 'I really need to get out of here,' so she would intercede by going into the office to allow the student to leave. The faculty member believed Kohberger was stalking people. She told police that someone had reportedly broken into a female graduate student's apartment in September or October, stealing perfume and underwear. An unnamed PhD student who was in the same program as Kohberger told police that he enjoyed conflict, was disparaging toward women and that he especially liked to talk about sexual burglary – his field of study. Some people in the department thought he was a possible future rapist and speculated that he might be an 'incel', or involuntary celibate, she told the officer. About three weeks after the murders, Kohberger told the PhD student that whoever had committed the crimes 'must have been pretty good', Idaho state police detective Sgt Michael Van Leuven wrote in a report. Kohberger also told the woman that the murders might have been a 'one and done type thing, Van Leuven wrote. The woman 'said she had never met anyone who acted in such a condescending manner and wondered why people in power in the department did not address his behavior', Van Leuven wrote. 'The way he spoke to females in the department was unsettling to them.' One instructor told police that she was assigned to work with Kohberger on his doctoral program. In late August 2022, she said she began receiving complaints about him from students and staff in the criminal justice program. The instructor told police that she spent 'a lot of time' speaking about Kohberger during disciplinary meetings. 'The meetings focused around Kohberger's interactions with fellow post-graduate students, in and out of the classroom, along with his behavior around some of the criminal justice professors,' according to an investigator's report. The school got nine separate complaints from faculty members, administration staffers and other students about his 'rude and belittling behavior toward women', Idaho state police detective Sean Prosser wrote in a report. In response, the school held a mandatory training class for all graduate students about behavior expectations. Many of Kohberger's fellow students and instructors at WSU did not suspect his involvement in the killings, according to the police reports. But at least one fellow student noticed his behavior changed after the murders. The student said Kohberger frequently used his phone before the killings – but stopped bringing his cellphone to class after the murders. He also appeared more disheveled in the weeks after the killings, the student told police, and she thought it was odd that he never participated in conversations about the Moscow deaths. She eventually called a police tip line to report that she had seen Kohberger with bloody knuckles just before the killings and his hand looked like he had been hitting something.
Daily Mail
31 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
'I had to identify my PANTS from 15 pairs': Mother who had her underwear stolen by police officer tells of 'nightmare' ordeal after cop was caught going through drawers on CCTV
A horrified mother who had her underwear stolen by a police officer has told how the 'nightmare' left her suffering sleepless nights and months of emotional distress. Marcin Zielinski, 27, was caught rifling through Lea-Ann Sullivan's drawers before grabbing a pair of underwear and slipping them into back pocket during a visit to the property on September 12, 2024. The Hertfordshire Constabulary officer admitted one charge of theft and a charge of corrupt/improper exercise of police powers and privileges by a constable and was jailed for four months on Monday. While his sentencing has brought some 'closure', Lea-Ann is still reeling from the horrific year-long ordeal and has left her trust for police at an all-time low. 'I think I've cried, I've laughed, I've been angry. I feel vulnerable, feel scared. I just think I feel sick about the whole situation,' the mother-of-two told the Daily Mail. 'I'm constantly thinking, what did he want them for? Why did he take them? What's he going to do with them? How many more people has he done it to?' Lea-Ann felt so 'violated' by the incident that she has since got rid of all her underwear and the chest of drawers as it became a constant reminder of the harrowing video. Her daughter, who is autistic, was also left reeling from the incident and is now so scared of police that she is reluctant to ever call them if she gets in trouble. 'Once I found out he had taken them, every time I looked into that drawer the video played back in my head,' Lea-Ann added. 'I had to clear my drawers and throw away all my underwear as they kept reminding me of the situation and I felt disgusted. 'I would never have let him into my home if he was not a police officer and he has completely misused his position and trust to facilitate his own habits.' During the night of the incident, Lea-Ann was arrested in connection with an unrelated matter and was later released with no further action taken. But she was still in custody when her partner Grant first discovered the ring doorbell footage and was shocked by what he saw. 'It wasn't until a few days later that we looked back on the camera and saw the policeman going into the drawer and going back into the drawer. 'On the footage he signals to the other guy "I've searched this room, go and search the other room". 'So he sent the other officer out and that's when he proceeded to open the drawer and stick them in his back pocket.' 'I was very shocked and angry to say the least. My wife was sick. 'She still doesn't go in the drawer now, she got rid of the cabinet. 'My wife was in the cell still, so I went straight to the police station and reported it.' The couple were then faced with further turmoil as Lea-Ann was forced to identify her underwear in a police parade in front of other officers. 'Lea-Ann had to go and do an ID parade to identify the knickers. 'We had to go to secret location to identify out of 15 pairs of knickers that they'd got from the officers house. The knickers weren't there. 'But the officer couldn't deny it, because he was on film taking it. 'There was 15 pairs of knickers, and who's to say that he didn't nick them from the other people?' Lea-Ann revealed that her 13-year-old daughter, who is autistic, has also been left emotionally traumatised by the horrific incident. 'My little girl keeps thinking well what if they took something from my bedroom because there's no cameras in it. 'When I got arrested, she was upstairs and her dad was downstairs. She said the officers just kept giving her dirty looks and made her feel uncomfortable. 'So she got her teddy and went down and sat with her dad. 'We told them my daughter is autistic and to be sensitive and quiet with the situation. 'They didn't. They just ripped it apart, were noisy, made a mess everywhere. They was quite disrespectful towards our house.' Lea-Ann said her daughter is now scared of police and believes she will never approach a police officer if in trouble. 'It has greatly changed how she views the police, and she is reluctant to go to the police in fear that she will experience similar or worse,' she said. Lea-Ann believes Zielinski's sentence was not harsh enough and believes he should be behind bars for longer. 'I don't think [his sentence] is long enough, but I'm all about teaching someone lesson. 'Originally I thought it was just going to get a suspended sentence, because I really did not think they were going to take it seriously. 'But I do think he does deserve to see the law from the other side. He can't just have the power trip to get away with it. Lea-Ann remains concerned that Zielinski was only caught thanks to their own ingenuity and fears what would have happened if he targeted someone else. 'What about the people who can't fight for themselves, that are elderly, that are vulnerable. What if that's a disabled lady. 'Or what if he takes it to the next level. Look at Wayne Cousens, he started flashing and he's killed a lady. 'I just don't trust any of them, and I don't even trust the women.' Zielinski was also condemned by his force who said his behaviour represented a 'fundamental betrayal of the public'. Zielinski resigned from the force while under investigation in November 2024. Hertfordshire Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable Genna Telfer said: 'Zielinski has let down the public of Hertfordshire, the police service as a whole and his former colleagues, who act with professionalism and integrity. 'His criminal behaviour damages the reputation of policing and represents a fundamental betrayal of the public and the values for which the police service stands.'
