Grambling State University

Grambling State University was hit with more than $130,000 in property theft from its football stadium and other campus buildings during the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to a report released Monday by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera.

The management letter to university officials said the thefts included plumbing units, air conditioners and hot-water heaters from the football stadium, campus buildings and vacant housing facilities. “One maintenance employee was arrested and subsequently confessed to a portion of these thefts totaling approximately $80,000,” the state auditor said in the report.

Auditors said that good control over property “generally includes restricting access and assigning responsibility for individual property items. However, in these thefts, one or more maintenance employees, who had unrestricted access to buildings as part of their job duties, were able to remove installed fixtures and equipment.”

The report said that Grambling will likely “have to replace some of these items using public funds.”

The state auditor’s report recommended that Grambling officials consider “the cost-effectiveness of limiting key access, installing electronic card readers, installing security cameras and increasing police patrols.” It also said the university should consider “removing and securing equipment and fixtures from vacant facilities.”

Grambling officials concurred with the findings in the report and said in response they have hired an interim police chief for their campus security force and a new risk manager; revised the campus key control policy to require stiffer fines for lost keys that have to be replaced; limited key access; and reduced the number of employees with master keys.

University officials said they will also re-key all vacant buildings “to one central key” that will be kept in an office with a check-out procedure to track the key’s use. Where possible, university officials said, movable property from unused buildings will be removed and stored it in the university’s secure warehouse.

University officials’ response to the report said they hope to have “all actions. . .completed by Dec. 31, 2014.”