A former Southern Illinois University Edwardsville lecturer is facing federal fraud charges after prosecutors say he put more than $100,000 in personal expenses on a university-issued credit card, including rent, marijuana, athletic fees and high-end kitchen knives.
Jonathan C. Clark, who worked as an adjunct biology instructor, lecturer and laboratory manager at SIUE, was indicted August 18 on one count of mail fraud and three counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors allege the scheme ran from November 11, 2022, through March 16, 2025.
According to court records reviewed by Capitol News Illinois, Clark is accused of using the university card for personal purchases and then submitting falsified credit card invoices and affidavits that made the charges appear connected to the laboratory he managed or other teaching expenses.
Clark resigned from SIUE in April 2025 after the university informed him that it intended to discharge him. He was scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court in East St. Louis on September 2, but he did not appear. His court-appointed attorney told the judge he had not yet heard from Clark, and the judge said another initial appearance and arraignment would be scheduled.
Some Purchases Were Shipped to His Office and Home
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Court records say items purchased with Clark’s university card were delivered to both his SIUE office and his home through the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and other interstate commercial shipping services.
One shipment identified in the indictment involved kitchen knives ordered from Coolina, an artisan knife company with a facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The package was sent by FedEx directly to Clark’s university office.
The indictment does not specify how much Clark allegedly spent on the knives. Capitol News Illinois reported that Coolina advertised individual knives at roughly $100 to $300 at the time of its report.
Prosecutors Identified Three PayPal Transactions
The indictment also identifies three PayPal transactions allegedly charged to Clark’s SIUE card. Two payments $370.74 and $1,652.87 were sent to recipients identified in court records only by their initials in the Illinois communities of Godfrey and St. Jacob.
A third payment of $612.85 went to the Glen-Ed Sports Association in Edwardsville. Prosecutors allege the transactions were personal rather than legitimate university expenses.
The three electronic payments form the basis of the wire fraud counts described in the reporting, while the shipment of allegedly personal merchandise through interstate delivery services is cited in connection with the mail fraud allegation.
SIUE Requires Receipts and Department Review for Card Purchases
SIUE’s procurement card rules explicitly prohibit cardholders from making personal purchases. The university defines a personal purchase as something that is not bought for university use and ownership and says such misuse can result in cancellation of the card, repayment, termination or criminal prosecution.
The policy also requires every procurement-card transaction to have an itemized receipt or other acceptable documentation showing the purchase date, vendor, items purchased and prices. Transactions should be reconciled and approved by department personnel within 30 days. The indictment contains allegations that prosecutors must prove in court. Clark has not been convicted of the charges.
How Organizations Can Catch Purchasing-Card Abuse Earlier
Purchasing-card fraud can be difficult to spot when the person making a transaction also supplies the paperwork used to justify it. Organizations can reduce that risk by requiring a separate reviewer to compare receipts, vendors, delivery locations and stated business purposes against the employee’s actual duties rather than relying only on documentation supplied by the cardholder.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has identified approving-official review, cardholder reconciliation, independent receipt and acceptance, and continuing monitoring as important controls for purchase-card programs. It has also warned that weak approval and monitoring systems can allow fraudulent or abusive transactions to continue without prompt detection. More information is available in the GAO’s audit guide for government purchase-card programs.
Organizations should also investigate patterns rather than waiting for one obviously suspicious purchase. Repeated payments to individuals, merchandise delivered to a cardholder’s home or office without a clear operational purpose, unusual vendors and documentation that does not match the underlying transaction can all justify additional review before losses accumulate.