Last updated: December 12, 2012

This page will be updated to include more information as it becomes available.

Letter from December 10, 2012

Letter from October 10, 2012

Letter from SPSP President to Members 

December 10, 2012

Dear Society Members:

It’s been awhile since I first reported that the Society discovered irregularities in our financial records and that a staff member had made substantial inappropriate withdrawals from SPSP accounts. At that time, I promised that we would update you on progress as the investigation unfolds.

Although the wheels of justice turn slowly, I want to assure you that progress is being made in the investigation. We have recently been briefed on the status of the investigation and, because a formal investigation is in progress, we still cannot offer specific details at this point. Nevertheless, we want to convey to our members we are highly impressed with the both the thoroughness and carefulness of the detectives’ work on the case. Our interests are being well protected as legal professionals pursue their investigation. We are hopeful that we will be able to disclose more details before the end of the year. We can, of course, only provide such information at a point at which it will not jeopardize the unfolding investigation.

As before, inquiries on this matter should be directed to Lisa M.P. Munoz, SPSP Public Information Officer, spsp.publicaffairs@gmail.com, 703-951-3195, or Patricia G. Devine, SPSP President, pgdevine@wisc.edu, (608-262-1040).

Yours sincerely,
Patricia G. Devine
President

Letter from SPSP President to Members

October 10, 2012

Dear SPSP Members:

SPSP has changed in the years since we started our annual conference in 2000.  During that time, our membership has grown substantially, and we currently have approximately 7,000 members.  As a result of the Society’s growth and success, it has become a considerably more complex organization.  When we were a small organization, we relied mostly on volunteers to manage the Society’s business.  In recognition of the increasing complexity of the Society and our activities, in January of 2012, the Executive Committee voted to hire a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to work with the Society to systematize our policies and procedures.  We hired an excellent Certified Public Accountant to serve in the CFO role, and she has been working with the Society’s Executive Office staff and the Executive Committee since April of 2012. 

In the course of the CFO’s work, she discovered some significant irregularities in financial records for the period between 2007 and 2010.  Through a thorough forensic accounting investigation, it appears that an administrative staff member of the organization made substantial inappropriate withdrawals from SPSP accounts.  We immediately reported our concerns to the Ithaca Police Department and provided them with the full set of evidence we uncovered.  The case is being investigated by the Tompkins County, New York, District Attorney’s Office.  The staff member's employment was immediately terminated by the Society. 

The case is now working its way through the criminal justice system and at the present time, we are not at liberty to offer any additional information.  I want to assure you, however, that we will provide a full disclosure at the appropriate time.  Our timetable for disclosing further details of the case is, as you might understand, dictated by the unfolding legal process.   We have established a page on the SPSP website on which we will post updates about the case as they become available: http://www.spsp.org/?InvestigationUpdates.  You will find a link to the page on the SPSP homepage once it goes live.  At this point in time, the page has only this letter to the membership. We will update it as soon as we have new information.

We realize that our members will likely have many questions regarding this matter.  We ask for your patience and understanding as the legal process unfolds and as we make transitions to accommodate changes in our staff.  We will do everything possible to minimize any disruptions in our services.

Any inquiries on this matter should be directed to Lisa M.P. Munoz, SPSP Public Information Officer, spsp.publicaffairs@gmail.com, 703-951-3195, or Patricia G. Devine, SPSP President, pgdevine@wisc.edu, 608-262-1040.

Yours sincerely, 

Patricia G. Devine (for the SPSP Executive Committee)
President, SPSP