Photo by Wyatt Anderson
By Wyatt Anderson
MCP Staff Reporter
A former Midland College Director was convicted for fraud, and sentenced to 12 months in Federal prison on Oct. 29
Former Director of the Commercial Transportation traininng program, Michael Daniel Sanchez was found guilty, after a year long investigation.
Sanchez cheated Midland College out of $60,000 within a two year span, allowing students to believe that payments for their class were being transferred from the Advanced Technology Center, (ATC), to the Midland College cashier.
However this was not the case. According to MC Campus Police Chief, Richard McKee, suspicion began to rise during the fall semester of 2013, when Campus Police received word that Sanchez had taken cash payment from several students who had not paid the college.
“We had info that Sanchez was taking cash from students who were paying, without paying Midland College” Chief McKee said.
It wasn't long after the Campus Police Department received this information, that an investigation began. On Nov. 13 an investigation took place over Sanchez’s alleged crime and the evidence promptly started to unfold. Financial records from the Transportation Department were discovered missing.
“We opened the investigation on November 13 last year, and found out through the paperwork that several financial documents from the Transportation Department, were gone,” Chief McKee said. “The more we looked into it, the deeper it got.”
The investigation led to a discovery that students who were enrolled in the transportation program, were never officially enrolled through the college. Yet Sanchez had been charging students through cash and money orders, telling them they were enrolled through MC.
After this discovery, Chief McKee handed the evidence retrieved by his investigation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As soon as the evidence for accusation landed on the FBI’s desk, the investigation advanced at the Federal level.
“We also found that there were many students who had taken Sanchez’s classes without enrolling through the college, and were directly paying Sanchez through money orders,” Chief McKee said. “So we turned the investigation over to the FBI.”
The FBI conducted their own investigation discovering falsified receipts that Sanchez had sent to students by email. This rapidly constructed a “white-collar” case against Sanchez, briskly following his arrest. In March of 2013, the FBI took Sanchez’s case to a Federal Grand Jury that indicted him for fraud.
Sanchez awaited trial in federal court for over a year with the odds of serving up to 20 years in prison. However he was only sentenced to 12 months in prison, with a restitution charge of a little more than $30,000 to Midland College.
“He was convicted in Federal Court on the 29th of October with the possibility of spending twenty years in prison, but only got a year and one day.” Chief McKee said.
Sanchez’s arrest came as a shock Vice President of Administrative Services, Rick Bender. He said that no-one expected Sanchez to cheat Midland College.
According to Bender, Sanchez appeared to be an honest man, with a good personality. Bender also added that the Transportation program seemed to be doing a great job under Sanchez’s direction.
“Mike Sanchez had not worked for us long,” Bender said. “He was a nice man, with a salesman mentality, and it’s a sad situation because he was a likable guy. The program did well under him.”
According to Bender, Sanchez had a clean criminal record, meeting the minimum requirements to be considered for the Director of Transportation.
“We did all the screening necessary when he was hired” Bender said. “Nothing on his background check gave any indication of ineligibility.”
Because the ATC programs differ from the original classes on campus, The first contact students would have for ATC classes would be the Director, not a counselor on campus. As to the reason many students were never transferred to the enrollment at Midland College. Consequently, due to the large number of un-enrolled students who were taking transportation, Sanchez racked up nearly 60,000 dollars worth of tuition.
“Sanchez was the first contact the students had, so thats why he took close to 60,000 dollars.” Bender said. “He abused the power given to him.”
Midland College President agreed that Sanchez was a nice man and would not have expected Sanchez’s actions. For a man with a clean record before it disappoints Dr. Thomas to now say that Sanchez is ineligible for re-hire.
“I knew Mike and it was a shock” Dr. Thomas said. “He is a felon now and it disappoints me to say he ineligible for hiring because he was a nice man.”
A former Midland College Director was convicted for fraud, and sentenced to 12 months in Federal prison. MC Director of Commercial Transportation, Michael Daniel Sanchez was found guilty on October 29 of last month, closing a full year investigation. Sanchez cheated Midland College out of nearly 60,000 dollars, within a two year span, allowing students to believe that payments for their class were being transferred from the Advanced Technology Center, (ATC), to the Midland College cashier.
However this was not the case. According to MC Campus Police Chief, Richard McKee, suspicion began to rise during the fall semester of 2013, when Campus Police received word that Sanchez had taken cash payment from several students who had not paid the College.
“We had info that Sanchez was taking cash from students who were paying, without paying Midland College” Chief McKee said.
It wasn't long after the Campus Police Department received this information, that an investigation was started over Sanchez’s alleged crime. On November 13, 2013 an investigation took place, and the evidence promptly began to unfold itself. Financial records from the Transportation Department were discovered missing.
“We opened the investigation on November 13 last year, and found out through the paperwork that several financial documents from the Transportation Department, were gone” Chief McKee said, “The more we looked into it, the deeper it got.”
The investigation led to a discovery that students who were enrolled in the Transportation Program, were never officially enrolled through the college. Yet Sanchez had been charging students through cash and money orders, telling them they were enrolled through MC. After this discovery Chief McKee instantly handed the evidence retrieved by his investigation to the federal level. As soon as the evidence for accusation landed on the FBI’s desk, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took over.
“We also found that there were many students who had taken Sanchez’s classes without enrolling through the college, and were directly paying Sanchez through money orders” Chief McKee said, “So we turned the investigation over to the FBI.”
The FBI conducted their own investigation discovering falsified receipts that Sanchez had sent to students by email. This rapidly constructed a “white-collar” case against Sanchez, briskly following his arrest. In March 2013, the FBI took Sanchez’s case to a Federal Grand Jury that indicted him for fraud.
Sanchez awaited trial in federal court for over a year with the odds of serving up to 20 years in prison. However he was only sentenced to a mere 12 months in prison this last October, with a restitution charge of a little over 30,000 dollars to Midland College.
“He was convicted in Federal Court on the 29th of October with the possibility of spending twenty years in prison, but only got a year and one day.” Chief McKee said.
Sanchez’s arrest came as a shock Vice President of Administrative Services, Rick Bender. He said that no-one expected Sanchez to cheat Midland College. According to Bender, Sanchez appeared to be an honest man, with a good personality. Bender also added that the Transportation program seemed to be doing a great job under Sanchez’s direction.
“Mike Sanchez had not worked for us long” Bender said. “He was a nice man, with a salesman mentality, and it’s a sad situation because he was a likable guy. The program did well under him.”
According to Bender, Sanchez had a clean criminal record, and met the minimum requirements to be considered for the Director of Transportation.
“We did all the screening necessary when he was hired” Bender said. “Nothing on his background check gave any indication of ineligibility.”
Because the ATC programs differ from the classes on the main campus, the first contact students would have for ATC classes would be the director. Not a counselor on the Midland College campus. Consequently, Sanchez scheme racked up nearly $60,000 worth of tuition.
“Sanchez was the first contact the students had, so thats why he took close to 60,000 dollars.” Bender said. “He abused the power given to him.”
Midland College President Steve Thomas agreed that Sanchez was a nice man and would not have expected Sanchez’s actions.
“I knew Mike and it was a shock” Dr. Thomas said. “He is a felon now and it disappoints me to say he ineligible for hiring because he was a nice man.”
President Thomas admitted that $60,000 was the proven ammont that Sanchez stole, yet there are stil large numbers of financial records missing, from unenrolled students to this day. This leads President Thomas and the staff to believe that Sanchez made off with over $100,000 of tuition. However President Thomas would be relieved if Sanches pays the restitution of $32,000 back to Midland College.
"The news only reported $30,000 stolen, our records prove atleast $60,000," Thomas said. "but there are still so many unenrolled students and undocumented records that we (the staff) believe Mike stole more than $100,000 but I'll be greatful if he pays back the $32,000 restitution he now owes the college."
