Patrice Wright, a former Student Life Director at the Clarkston campus of Perimeter College, pled guilty this morning in DeKalb Superior Court over her misuse of her state-issued purchasing card (P-card). Wright entered a guilty plea to ten counts of theft by taking, and she was sentenced by Judge Robert Castellani to ten years intensive probation and 160 hours of community service. In addition, restitution in the amount of $3,463 was ordered to be repaid to the state.

Part of Wright's duties at Perimeter required her to make certain work-related purchases, including the purchase of gift cards for use by the school. On January 22, 2007, Wright used her P-card to purchase four mall gift certificates with a face value of $500 each which she used to make payments on her car loan. On February 7, 2007, Wright purchased several gift cards with a face value of $340, one of which she appropriated for her own use to reserve a hotel room in Hawaii. In addition, the state investigation discovered that Wright had used her P-card to make personal purchases while on a trip to Disney in September 2006 and while on a trip to Las Vegas in over the New Years holiday in 2006-2007. The total amount of Wright's thefts totaled $3,463.25.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Laura Pfister, and the case was investigated jointly by the State Audit Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.