Former CCSN dean enters into plea deal

Monday, March 14, 2005 | 9:40 a.m.

A former Commmunity College of Southern Nevada dean accused of showing preferential treatment to a student will plead guilty to a misdemeanor as part of a deal with the attorney general's office, officials said.

Don Smith, formerly the dean of Arts and Letters at CCSN, will also retire, pay about $9,000 in restitution and a $400 court fine, Tom Sargent, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said.

Smith allegedly gave a job to student Jule Bruton as a part-time technical assistant in the English Department and also allegedly directed scholarship money he donated to CCSN's Foundation to Bruton and two others.

By law, Smith was supposed to open the job up to all candidates, according to the attorney general's office.

Bruton worked for the department from September 2002 to September 2003, making a total of $9,126, college records show.

Bruton also received $3,000 of the $4,000 Smith donated to the foundation for scholarships, Diana Wilson, executive director of the foundation, said.

Wilson said she discovered Smith's misuse of the scholarship funds in early 2004 and immediately sent him a letter informing him he could not write the donations off as a tax deduction. Smith followed the advice, she said.

The Internal Revenue Service prohibits donors from stipulating which students get their scholarship dollars. Wilson's predecessor was not aware that it was inappropriate, she said.

Smith will retire by the end of the month, Rand Key, vice president for planning and development, said. He was placed on paid administrative leave at the beginning of the fall semester as state officials investigated the incident.