A University of Wisconsin athletics employee is accused of spending thousands of dollars using per diem cards meant for student-athletes, according to a criminal complaint obtained Thursday by Madison NBC affiliate WMTV.
Marcel Dubois, 51, is accused of several felony counts. He faces 12 counts of misappropriating ID information to obtain money and one misdemeanor charge of computer crime - access data.
As reported by WMTV's Mark McPherson and Juliana Tornabene, the complaint states a UW Police Department lieutenant received a call Nov. 27, 2023, from someone about a possible theft from a business. The individual explained that he received an email that day from a former UW women’s hockey player, who said there were transactions going through her per diem card that she had not authorized herself.
UW athletes are given per diem cards, loaded with funds from the athletic department to use as they travel, in lieu of cash, McPherson and Tornabene reported. "The cards are used like any other debit card and expire five years after being issued, according to the complaint," according to the WMTV report. "Once the money is loaded onto the cards, they are no longer the property of the university. If a student athlete leaves the school, the athlete can continue to use the funds until they are gone."
The complaint continues, per McPherson and Tornabene, stating that the person who made the report to police determined with members of the team that the transactions matched the travel plans of Dubois. He was working for the athletic department as an athletics procurement specialist II at the time.
His employment status was unknown as of this writing.
The complaint states Dubois was assigned to work with the appropriate coaches and operations staff to forward letters containing the cards to the appropriate card holders. He was also in charge of ordering new cards, or replacing them if one is stolen or lost, WMTV reported.
It was determined that at least 11 cards were being fraudulently used, and the complaint states the funds stolen through fraudulent transactions totaled more than $7,000.
The complaint states Dubois allegedly admitted to theft involving the per diem card. He told officials in December that he figured he would not actually be taking money from anyone because the accounts did not appear to be active, the complaint alleged.
A plea hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 17 in Dane County court.
