USF Settles In Bike Scandal

The University of South Florida associate vice president who resigned Tuesday over his role in taking 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 settlement 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 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 Tuesday 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 involving the bicycle.

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

Rao is seen on a security video from Feb. 9 with a man taking a bicycle from a loading dock of the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute.

By Wednesday, two days later, the video was being shown on the Internet site YouTube.

The images show 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 at bikes near the railing, pick one and leave with it in the van.

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

In a statement made 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 and needed the bicycle for a day or two. It was returned Wednesday.

A USF police report states the bicycle is worth $100 and classifies the theft as a misdemeanor. The department has referred the case to the Hillsborough County State Attorney's office for possible charges.

Hillsborough County Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said Wednesday afternoon that her office had not received the report from USF.

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