William Michael Smith and Steve Jansen report:
A TSU DJ has been arrested in an alleged pledge-drive scam, a local TV watchdog reporter said late Wednesday.
According to a tweet from Fox 26 reporter Isiah Carey late this afternoon, KTSU radio volunteer Michael Whitfield was arrested earlier in the day and could face up to 300 counts of credit card fraud for stealing radio-station donors’ pledge sheets and opening credit cards in their names.
Read more on Houston Press. KTSU is a student radio station at Texas Southern University.
Fox26 News, who broke the story, reports that Whitfield had a criminal history of credit card fraud before being accepted as a volunteer at the radio station and should never have been in a position to have access to donors’ credit card information. The Houston Chronicle reports that “Whitfield pleaded guilty to credit card abuse in 1997 and was placed on four years’ probation. Two years later, he admitted guilt in two more financial fraud cases and was sentenced to a year in state jail.” There were reportedly no background checks in place for volunteers and Whitfield simply signed an affidavit attesting to his trustworthiness.
Donors’ pledge cards were reportedly found in Whitfield’s home.