HOUSTON – A former University of Houston - Downtown employee is accused of spending thousands of dollars in public money on personal purchases when she worked as an administrative assistant in the Division of Advancement and University Relations, records show.
52-year-old Stephanie Olin was arrested Sept. 1 and charged with theft by a public servant and tampering with a governmental record. She is out of jail on personal recognizance bonds.
At the time of Olin’s arrest, court records show she had been employed by Rice University for three months as an administrative assistant. Friday night, a spokesperson for the university said she is no longer employed there.
It’s not clear if Olin was terminated or if she resigned from the University of Houston - Downtown at the end of 2021.
From October through December 2021, she’s accused of stealing $8,606.91 from the University of Houston - Downtown and then altering records to cover it up, according to court documents.
“There’s a higher level of expectation of public money,” Harris County Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said.
Precinct 1 investigators started looking into Olin in January, digging through records, which revealed she used her university purchasing card on 79 unauthorized Amazon purchases and two months of rent.
“Not very smart because all of that’s traceable back to you,” Rosen said. “It’s an easy paper trail.”
According to documents, Amazon purchases include health and beauty items, kitchen accessories, pet food, holiday lighting decorations, paper plates, jewelry, luggage, light bulbs, Apple AirPods, musical instruments, and more.
All of the items, investigators allege, got delivered to Olin’s northwest Houston apartment.
During her first scheduled court appearance, she did not appear, because the hearing officer said she received early present personal recognizance bonds in both cases.
Investigators allege that $1,490.85 of the money went toward Olin’s November 2021 rent. She’s accused of doctoring a Univision cable to the university for the exact amount, even though records state the university didn’t have any transactions with Univision during that entire year.
The university’s policy prohibits personal purchases or buying that doesn’t benefit the university. P-cards also can’t be used for non-university purposes even if the cardholder intends to reimburse the university, the documents state.
In 2003, Harris County records show Olin was charged with aggregate theft. The charge eventually got reduced to misdemeanor theft and records state Olin paid $11,400 in restitution and got placed on community supervision for one year.
“Make sure that, you know, the people that you’re hiring are people you can trust and entrust with public money or private money,” Rosen said.
A spokesperson for UH Downtown said compliance matters are taken seriously and referred questions about the criminal investigation to the constable’s office.
Olin’s court-appointed defense attorney has not responded to a request for comment.
Her arraignment hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16.