Judge to former MU employee Brandon Guffey: 'I'm adjudicating you a thief'

A former financial officer in the University of Missouri College of Engineering on Monday pleaded guilty to several counts relating to theft from the university and fraudulent use of a university-issued credit card by himself.

Under a plea agreement, Brandon Guffey pleaded guilty to two counts of felony stealing of MU property, appliances and electronic with a value of more than $25,000 for each count. He pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor counts of fraudulent use of a credit device, with one count related to his purchase of decking materials for himself.

Guffey has paid restitution to the university and court totaling $75,000. Also part of his sentence is 200 hours of community service and five years of supervised probation.

There's an underlying suspended prison or jail sentence on each count.

"I'm adjudicating you a thief," Judge Hasbrouck Jacobs said in passing sentence.

Jacobs said it's Guffey's first offense, but "an awful lot of money" in a scheme that "bleeds the taxpayers."

"In my mind it's something more aggravated than when somebody who simply takes something" because it was done over time, Jacobs said.

Questioned by the judge, Guffey said he was pleading guilty because he is guilty and did so under his own free will.

The university fired Guffey in January 2022 and began an audit. If found that complaints by 18 staff members allowed the thefts to continue.

The audit found direct evidence of theft of more than $30,700 from the university. Another $132,352 worth of items hadn't been recovered.

The charges were filed in July 2022.

Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on X at @rmckinney9.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Brandon Guffey pleads guilty to stealing from University of Missouri