Odd story. USF vice president on camera apparently aiding in theft of bike.

[madfloridian]

This story is just so weird that I keep waiting for the punch line. Surely a university dean and VP who earns $384,280 annually would never do such a thing.

USF Dean under investigation for taking $100 bike

TAMPA | A University of South Florida vice president who makes $384,280 annually is being investigated on charges he stole a $100 mountain bike. Dr. Abdul Rao was captured on surveillance video Monday night with a man he says is semi-homeless and does odd jobs for him.

In the video, uploaded on YouTube, the pair approach the loading dock at the Johnnie B. Byrd Alzheimer's Center & Research Institute in a van. They get out and look over some parked bikes.

Rao's companion takes a bike and walks it down a ramp. The van drives away. The bike belonged to a graduate student at the Byrd Institute, Rao later learned.

Rao called his actions a "terrible lapse in judgment," but maintained in an interview with the Times that he was only trying to help a person down on his luck "just one of those guys who can't get off the poverty bubble," Rao said.

Here is the video at You Tube

It was so weird I did a search before I posted it. Here is a post from the Sun Sentinel.

USF dean a bike thief?

ake Abdul Rao, a University of South Florida vice president who makes $384,280 and owns a five-bedroom home assessed at $441,738.

Pair him with Victor Waiters, a Miami handyman who travels to Tampa to do handyman work. Waiters has been arrested 29 times since 1988, including 2005 convictions for cocaine possession and resisting an officer, reports the St. Petersburg Times.

Now the professor is under investigation for helping the handyman steal a $100 bike from a student at USF.

It is also up at MSNBC with a small picture.



YouTube Video Shows USF Dean Taking Bike

TAMPA - An associate dean at the University of South Florida has admitted to taking a student's bicycle this week in an act that was captured on a surveillance tape and later posted on YouTube.

Abdul Rao, who oversees research grants for the College of Medicine, was suspended Thursday while campus officials investigate.

In a statement, Rao apologized Friday and said he was trying to help a day laborer who needed transportation.

I am just shaking my head in disbelief.

[WilliamPitt]

1. Maybe it was Max Fischer's bike.

The USF VP might want to check his brake lines tomorrow. ;)

(Rushmore joke)

[madfloridian]

3. Heh heh...thank god for wikipedia.

Never heard of that movie...had to look it up.

:hi:

[WilliamPitt]

4. Oh, you need to see it.

Phenomenal movie, one of the best soundtracks ever put together. Rushmore is on my top 5 all-time favorites list.

[Avalux]

2. Weird. Why didn't he just buy the guy a bike??

He obviously has the money. :shrug:

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Buy a man a bike and he has a bike til it wears out.

Teach him to steal bikes, and he'll have bikes forever.
:silly:

[madfloridian]

8. lol

:D

[Hannah Bell]

6. a homeless Miami handyman who travels to Tampa to do handyman work

& does odd jobs for the pres?

drug dealer

[TwilightGardener]

12. Yep--that was my thought. This "handyman" is the VP's supplier.

[kestrel91316]

7. Money can't buy integrity........

[JVS]

9. The rich are so used to stealing, that they cannot stop!

[madfloridian]

10. It just gets weirder. Rao asks the student to drop the charges.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article976088.ece

"After the video was shown to police Wednesday, bike owner Boyd said he was summoned for a closed-door meeting in Rao's office. "He wanted me to tell the cops it was just a misunderstanding," Boyd said.

Boyd said he thought it was odd that Rao spoke to him after the surveillance was released, instead of shortly after the bike was taken Monday night. A missing bike report was filed with campus police Tuesday.

Rao has said he was simply trying to help a man down on his luck. He said he thought the bikes had been abandoned and that Waiters was going to bring it back.

On Saturday, Rao said he never asked Boyd to lie. "I told him 'I'm sorry. This is a misunderstanding,' " he said. "And, if you can, consider dropping the charges."

Boyd doesn't plan to."

None of this makes sense.

[madfloridian]

11. He will resign this week.

From Creative Loafing.

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/politicalwhore/2009/02/18/dumbass-usf-prof-trades-384000-job-for-100-stolen-bike/

" ABC Action News has learned that Dr. Abdul Rao, an associate dean of the USF College of Health will resign effective Friday.

As it was first reported last week, Rao admitted to taking the bike belonging to a graduate student in the health department, but claimed he only lent the bike to a handyman who needed transportation.

Rao makes a salary of $384,000 per year overseeing research grants at USF. The bike was worth about $100.

Rao came to the university in 2006 and at least two professors in the College of Medicine tell ABC Action News that Dr. Rao was widely disliked among the faculty."

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

13. Please, that's not his handyman, that's his coke dealer

And for the amount of money he's making, he should be able to find a respectable looking person to deliver drugs to his house.

Bizarre.