Sheriff reviews diplomas in flap over raises

The King County Sheriff's Office is re-examining the diplomas of all department employees who have received pay raises by earning college degrees.

The investigation was prompted by a complaint that Sgt. Jim Fuda, 52, a candidate in the race for sheriff, received a 2 percent pay raise after submitting a bachelor of arts degree from a bogus online university.

The Kingsfield University Web site issued thousands of diplomas, taking in millions of dollars before it was shut down in 2003 by the Federal Trade Commission.

Fuda said yesterday that he received his degree in public administration from Kingsfield.

A 32-year-veteran of the force, Fuda said he read about the university and thought it could legitimately grant degrees for life experience. He also said he wanted the degree for his own sense of accomplishment. He enrolled online in 2002. As requested by the Web site, Fuda said, he submitted a portfolio of professional accomplishments, including essays about security planning, courses he taught and training he took. He also said he submitted an essay and documents relating to a special training session on combating terrorism, courses he attended in London.

"I wrote about courses I've taught, training I've taken and my work experience, and wrote it up in essay form and e-mailed the related documents," Fuda said.

He got his diploma and showed it to the county, Fuda said. He then got his raise — ultimately approved by the personnel department.

An internal Sheriff's Office memo shows that Fuda got the 2 percent raise in November 2002. Previously, he had received an additional 2 percent pay increase for an associate's degree that he received from Highline Community College.

The online degree from Kingsfield is "a nonaccredited degree ... I got just for myself," Fuda said. "Later, I wondered if it qualified for the program. I called personnel and asked ... the decision was made down in personnel."

Fuda said he paid about $500 for the degree and said he had thought at the time that it was "cool" that his life experiences counted toward something.

The complaint about his online diploma was filed by a friend of Greg Schmidt, a Seattle police lieutenant who is running against Fuda and King County Sheriff Sue Rahr. The friend said he received information about the diploma through a public-records request.

A spokesman for the Sheriff's Office said the complaint has been turned over to the Seattle Police Department.

When the Seattle Police Department was asked yesterday what it planned to do, spokesman Sean Whitcomb declined to comment, referring questions to the Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart said the county criteria for receiving the 2 percent raise are not spelled out. But it has always been understood to mean a diploma or transcript from an accredited four-year university, he said. The department will be reviewing its pay policies, Urquhart said, and will re-examine diplomas submitted by other employees.

"It appears this one slipped through, but we do not believe the problem is widespread," Urquhart said.

Anita Whitfield, the county director of human resources, said no regulations govern the procedure an employee must go through to qualify for the educational pay incentive. It's up to each department head to determine whether an employee qualifies, and to then pass that information on to the county payroll department.

But that does not mean no checks and balances exist, county officials said.

"The managers of the departments are accountable to make sure that stuff is done right," said Carolyn Duncan, a spokeswoman for County Executive Ron Sims.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com Reporter Maureen O'Hagan contributed to this report.