Internal memos: Hundreds of TMCC computers vanished

Internal inventory-control memos obtained by the Reno News & Review confirm that hundreds of computers and electronic tablets were lost by Truckee Meadows Community College during the last several years, and the items have been purged from the institution’s inventory lists. 

State regulations require any machines with a hard drive—termed “sensitive equipment” because of the confidential information they often contain—be subject to special inventory controls so they can be tracked, and their locations on campus are always known. Documents show that TMCC for years failed to follow those procedures, and this year couldn’t locate hundreds of desktops, laptops and e-tablets.  

Missing items also include a computer server purchased in 2022 for $4,735, now listed in the college’s inventory control system as “worn out/written off.” 

Some of the never-found 375 computers catalogued in the memos were laptops loaned to students who allegedly failed to return them, according to the documents; other machines lacked any tracking data at all. Many of the unaccounted-for computers were listed as residing in the campus Information Technology Office, but weren’t there and couldn’t be found elsewhere, according to the documents. 

TMCC uses the memos as a way to remove unaccounted-for assets from annual inventory lists so that auditors don’t continue looking for them year after year. Some of the memos note that “many” of the missing computers were due to be replaced anyhow. But an RN&R cross-check of items listed on the memos against the college’s purchase and inventory data revealed that many machines listed as missing were just a few years old, including some that were purchased last year. 

For example, one memo from the Information Technology department dated Sept. 6, 2023, listed 25 computers and e-tablets that “were not found or returned” and were to be written off as a loss. That memo notes that “most of (the computers) are very old” and would have been replaced anyway in keeping with the college’s five-year equipment cycle. But the RN&R’s cross-check revealed that of the 25 machines, two were purchased in 2021, 14 in 2020 and six in 2019. The remaining two machines had no data available. Those 25 missing machines alone represent a loss of more than $27,000, based on purchase prices noted in TMCC documents. 

Of nine computers listed in another IT memo dated Sept. 6 and described as “worn out/written off” and “disposed of” in the central inventory, records show that four were purchased in 2022, and two were purchased in 2019. No data was available for the other three. Many of the lost computers listed in the memos have sequential TMCC inventory numbers, indicating they arrived in the same shipment, according to the inventory clerk who was tasked with looking for the missing computers earlier this year.  

“(The computers) with sequential numbers came in together, and that makes me wonder if they went out the door together without even getting out of the carton,” said Karalea Clough, an inventory control clerk and mailroom supervisor TMCC officials fired Nov. 27. Administrators and others accused her of a litany of policy violations starting in March. The alleged offenses centered on Clough’s interactions and communication with other college employees, not her inventory duties.  

In a state whistleblower complaint, filed in May, Clough alleges that college administrators retaliated against her in an effort to cover up their own incompetence in managing inventory, and the possible theft of many of the untracked machines.  

“They wanted to cover their behinds, but I wanted to do my job and find those computers,” Clough said. “That’s all I ever wanted to do.” 

A RN&R story in September documented that TMCC’s Information Technology department for years failed to attach required inventory control tags to hundreds of computers worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

In emails sent in 2022 and obtained by the RN&R, college employees and administrators noted that thousands of desktop, laptop and tablet computers could not be located and were not tagged or being traced as required by state policy. In one instance, according to the emails, an IT department employee in 2022 suggested a college inventory technician just scan a roll of inventory tags instead of finding the computers they represented. 

TMCC declines comment 

TMCC spokeswoman Kate Kirkpatrick told the RN&R in August that “any suggestions of a policy violation or missing equipment are unfounded.” Even though the incident with the inventory tag roll was documented in widely shared TMCC internal emails, Kirkpatrick called the anecdote a “rumor.” 

At the time, the officials told the RN&R that out of 2,092 pieces of untagged equipment mentioned in TMCC emails obtained by the newspaper, all but 96 units have been inventoried and tagged, and the remaining 96 units are in the process of being tagged. TMCC officials thereafter declined to answer any further questions about the missing computers, because “the matter is intertwined with an ongoing, confidential personnel” situation—Clough’s suspension and subsequent termination. 

Beginning in March, documents show, college administrators were building a disciplinary case against the inventory clerk. Clough said most of the unaccounted-for computers were assigned to the college Information Technology section and that IT employees for months stymied her repeated efforts to track down the untagged machines. Nine IT employees subsequently accused Clough of “bullying” them, according to TMCC documents. 

In May, Karin Hilgersom, TMCC’s president, took away from the central auditing system (and Clough) the responsibility for tracking the college’s computer inventory. Hilgersom transferred the job to the IT department, the unit that lost track of the equipment in the first place. 

In August, while Clough was on medical leave, college officials notified her that she was being investigated for 24 alleged violations of state and college rules and policies. She was placed on indefinite administrative leave. In October, she met with a lawyer tasked to investigate the allegations. News stories show that attorney, a retired state employee who most recently was a vice president at Western Nevada Community College, earlier in his career defended TMCC and the University of Nevada, Reno, against lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and/or retaliation. Clough was fired a month later. 

“In the space of a few months, I went from being evaluated as an employee who exceeded expectations to being terminated,” said Clough, who worked in state jobs for 17 years. She was promoted at TMCC on July 1, 2022—six months after being hired by the college’s auxiliary services—and received an excellent performance evaluation in January, records show. 

“(The college) spent a lot of money, time and effort to get me fired when what they should have been doing was looking for those missing computers and figuring out what really happened to the hundreds that vanished,” she said. 

As justification for firing her, TMCC officials ruled Clough was guilty of violating 10 college or state policies. The violations included disgraceful conduct; “insubordination or willful disobedience”; discourteous treatment of employees and/or supervisors; misuse of authority; “causing discord among others”; and “using insulting, abusive or profane language.” 

Clough said she will appeal her firing, is filing a Title IX federal civil rights complaint against TMCC, and is considering a wrongful-termination lawsuit. She also is fighting the college’s repeated efforts to have her state whistleblower complaint dismissed. 

In its rush to fire her, Clough said, TMCC violated its own policies and procedures that require “progressive discipline.” 

“There is a step-by-step disciplinary process they are required to follow, but they skipped right to dismissal,” Clough said. “I haven’t done anything criminal; there aren’t any complaints about my work. I didn’t threaten anybody and I wasn’t violent. … I’m a grandmother who was doing the best I could to do my job.”