Three former University of Georgia employees are facing felony theft charges for misusing state-issued purchasing cards, UGA police Chief Jimmy Williamson said Wednesday.

Williamson said the cases, included in a recently updated audit requested by the University System as part of an overall investigation into p-card misuse, have been pending since last year.

"A number of these arrests were before the spotlight was shined on p-cards," Williamson said.

In the most recent case, police charged Jack Bales, a former assistant manager of UGA's Campus Transit, with making more than $37,000 in fraudulent charges on his card. He was arrested in October and fired from UGA.

Williamson said Bales created fake invoices that he paid with p-cards, funneling UGA money through a pest control business where his daughter worked as a receptionist. He was charged with 12 counts of theft by deception.

P-cards, used by thousands of state employees to purchase work-related items, have come under intense scrutiny in recent months as cases of fraud have surfaced.

University System auditors are completing a massive audit of p-card spending at the state's 35 public colleges and universities due by March 1.

The state's four research institutions —- UGA, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State University —- completed their own audits.

UGA reviewed nearly 3,000 transactions for the most recent report and found some violation of university policy. In some cases, p-cards were used for purchases that, while business related, were prohibited for use with p-cards. In others, documentation was missing or inadequate.

Haley Hale, who worked at UGA's Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Lab, also was arrested by UGA police last January. Hale allegedly used her p-card at gas stations and to pay cellphone bill charges.

UGA police charged Marshall Acres, business manager of UGA's New Media Institute, with theft and computer forgery for making unauthorized p-card charges totaling $8,200 last February.