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USF Official Accepts Settlement To Resign

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USF Professor Abdul Rao, seen in this surveillance image, says he will step down effective Friday.

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By LINDSAY PETERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 18, 2009

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Abdul Rao

The University of South Florida associate vice president who resigned yesterday in the controversy over his theft of a student's bicycle will receive a $50,000 settlement from the university.

The official, Abdul Rao, received $384,000 a year in his position overseeing research grants at the College of Medicine. He was given the money in exchange for giving up his contract, which had $300,000 left on it, said USF spokesman Michael Hoad. "We just thought it was a fair amount."

Rao's resignation goes into effect on Friday, but he has been on leave for the past week, without e-mail or door card access to university buildings, Hoad said.

In the six-page settlement agreement, signed yesterday by Rao and College of Medicine Dean Stephen Klasko, Rao agrees to give up his contract and not sue the university. The university agrees not to pursue any disciplinary actions that could result from its investigation of the events surrounding the bicycle theft.

Both agree not to express "any derogatory or negative opinions concerning" the other.

Rao was caught on a surveillance tape on Monday night with a man taking a bicycle from a loading dock of the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute.

By Wednesday, the videotape was being shown on the Internet site YouTube.

The tape shows a woman riding up and parking her bicycle against a railing at 2 p.m. About 8:50 p.m.,
a minivan pulls up and Rao and a man get out. They look through some bikes near the railing, pick one and leave with it in the minivan.

The owner of the red mountain bike, doctoral student Timothy Boyd, said he had loaned it to the woman seen on the tape. She reported it stolen when she returned Tuesday morning to find it was missing.

In a statement on Friday, Rao admitted to taking the bicycle, calling it a lapse of judgment and saying he was trying to help a day laborer, Victor Waiters, who did odd jobs for him at his home.

He said in an interview that night that Waiters only needed the bicycle for a day or two and planned to return it when he was finished with an errand. The bicycle was returned on Wednesday.

Rao said he offered to buy a bicycle for the man, but that the man declined the offer, saying he just needed the bicycle temporarily.

A USF police report valued the bike at $100 and classified the theft as a misdemeanor. It has completed its investigation into the incident and passed the information to the Hillsborough County State Attorney's office for possible charges.

The settlement with USF does not protect Rao from any charges by a law enforcement agency.

Boyd said he wants to see Rao charged.

Hillsborough County assistant state attorney Pam Bondi said this afternoon that her office has not yet received the report from USF.

In a letter addressed to faculty, staff and students, Rao brought up his accomplishments since arriving at USF nearly three years ago.

"My time at USF and USF Health has been intellectually challenging and satisfying to me as a physician, researcher, and a change agent. I sincerely hope that my untiring efforts at this institution are recognized and that they facilitate the accomplishment of the goals outlined by you and your visionary leader Dr. Steve Klasko," he wrote.

He did not mention the bike incident.

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834.

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