Two people at the University of Georgia are in hot water for allegedly selling hundreds of textbooks that University Police said were obtained illegally.
In the first of the two cases, which police said are unrelated, Julia Hannah Meranski, 27, was initially arrested April 1 and charged at that time with theft by taking.
Meranski, who was a university employee at the time, “had been reported as a suspicious person seen entering offices in Brooks Hall on campus,” according to a University Police release.
‘Investigation determined that Meranski was in possession of several textbooks belonging to faculty and staff members that had been taken without authority from offices and mailrooms in several buildings on campus,” police said.
A follow-up investigation found that Meranski had sold at least 783 textbooks to local bookstores and through on-line vendors since the beginning of 2011, “generating a total of $18,765.37,” police said. “Many of the books appear to have been examination copies sent to professors directly from the publishers, and were taken from mailrooms and office buildings around campus.”
Police last Friday issued warrants charging Meranski with 17 additional counts of misdemeanor theft by taking.
Also Friday, University Police issued warrants charging 34-year-old graduate student and teaching assistant Michael Raymond DeWitt with 77 misdemeanor counts of theft by deception in a case that University Police Lt. Eric Dellinger said is unrelated to Meranski’s case.
In late April, police began an investigation into a report that DeWitt, a graduate assistant in the Psychology Department, “had been obtaining examination copies of textbooks from various publishers under false pretenses,” police said.
“DeWitt was representing himself as an instructor within the department and requesting textbooks in order to review for possible use in class,” police said. “However, DeWitt was not authorized to teach any classes in the department.”
An investigation determined that DeWitt had sold at least 167 textbooks for a total of $8,906.14 between last October and April.
“It is suspected that DeWitt fraudulently obtained most if not all of the books he sold,” police said. “However, warrants were sought only when electronic or written documentation existed that showed he was requesting books from the publishers under false pretense.”
DeWitt was booked into the Clarke County Jail Sunday afternoon and released Monday on $1,500 bond.
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