TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Dean May Be Punished

ADVERTISEMENT

By ADAM EMERSON

aemerson@tampatrib.com

Published: February 17, 2009

TAMPA - A USF dean captured on a security camera taking a student's bicycle could end up in trouble with his employer and with prosecutors.

The state attorney's office in Hillsborough County will decide whether to file charges against Abdul Rao, who said a "failure in judgment" led him to take a bike outside the Byrd Alzheimer's Center last week.

The investigation won't stop there, though. University of South Florida spokesman Michael Hoad said a group of senior administrators are meeting to consider punishing Rao.

Rao, who is paid $384,000 a year, is on paid leave from his job as senior associate vice president for research in the university's health sciences division. The leave is being charged to his vacation time, Hoad said. Meanwhile, the university has reassigned his duties to other administrators.

The committee reviewing his actions could recommend anything from a reprimand to dismissal.

"Because it's an error in judgment," Hoad said, the committee "can look into his role in the administration."

In its initial report, the university police department classified the act as misdemeanor theft. Lt. Meg Ross said the department on Monday asked the Hillsborough state attorney's office to investigate. The mountain bike is valued at $100.

While Rao admitted taking the bike, he said he planned to return it. He said he offered it to a handyman doing work for him and didn't think it belonged to a student. The security footage later spread virally on YouTube.
Rao said Monday that he "was looking forward to working with the investigation team."

The bike's owner, however, said he won't relent until Rao is charged. Timothy Boyd, a doctoral student, said he lent the bike to a friend, who was seen on the security camera parking the bike before Rao arrived to load it in a minivan.

"He stole my bike," Boyd said. "That's a bit obvious."
Rao has said the bike was not locked and that he thought it was abandoned. But the friend who borrowed the bike, Christine Dillingham, said it was common knowledge around the Alzheimer's center that students parked their bikes at the loading dock.

When she found the bike missing, Dillingham, 22, said she found the cable lock she used to secure it wrapped around a railing. She said she didn't know how the lock had been removed.

Rao, who was educated at Oxford, was hired by USF in 2005 after serving as vice provost for research at Middle Tennessee State University.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT