Police charge professor with embezzlement

University Police arrested former University Physics Prof. James S. McCarthy on charges of embezzlement and telephone fraud yesterday.

McCarthy was released on a $2,500 personal recognizance bond for each charge, University Police Lt. Mike Abbott said.

The telephone fraud arrest stemmed from McCarthy's misuse of a credit card assigned to University professors for business, Abbott said.

McCarthy "converted a lot of those [credit card charged telephone] calls to personal use," he said.

The total cost of the calls was in excess of $5,000, he added.

The embezzlement charge is "related around travel," Abbott said.

McCarthy was allegedly reimbursed for profession-related trips by the University, and was also being reimbursed by another source as well, he said.

McCarthy allegedly embezzled more than $6,000, he said.

Both charges are felony charges, he added.

The investigation leading to the arrests began in fall 1997 and is ongoing, Abbot said.

No other professors were involved, he said.

The University Police issued the warrant and McCarthy turned himself in, he added.

McCarthy is no longer an employee of the University.

"McCarthy was a physics professor and has not been since Feb. 8," University Relations Director Louise Dudley said.

McCarthy declined to comment.

The embezzlement charge, a Class One misdemeanor, is punishable by no less than one year and no more than 20 years imprisonment and up to a $2,500 fine, Charlottesville Police Sergeant Pete Siebel said.

Telephone fraud--the credit card call charge--is a Class Six felony punishable by one to five years imprisonment and/or up to a $2,500 fine, at the discretion of the jury, Siebel said.