By Aidan Gardiner 

A New York University administrator was indicted and arrested on December 23 for stealing over $400,000 from the university and falsifying business records. He now faces up to 19 years in prison.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced that between September 2003 and January 2009, John Runowicz, the budget coordinator for NYU’s chemistry department, had produced false receipts and attached them to reimbursement forms in order to earn back money for non-existent expenses.

According to a press release from the DA, NYU discovered the scheme during an internal audit of university finances. The university then reported the theft to the District Attorney’s office. "Mr. Runowicz was fired from the University some time ago," said university spokesman John Beckman in a public statement, "We have every confidence in the criminal justice system’s handling of this matter from here.”

Runowicz found discarded cash register receipts from Warehouse Wines and then attached them to reimbursement request forms before submitting them to the university bursar’s office. He claimed that the receipts represented chemistry department supply purchases. “Carrying on his scheme for over five years, Runowicz fraudulently submitted over 13,000 receipts from the liquor store and stole $409,000,” the DA release said. “None of those receipts reflected legitimate business expenses.”

“The University is deeply disappointed that one of its employees would abuse the trust of our students, faculty, administrators, and staff in this way," Beckman said.  

Runowicz has been indicted on one count of grand larceny in the second degree which can be up to 15 years in prison. He has also been indicted on six counts of falsifying business records in the first degree which carries up to four years in prison. Both are felonies.