Merced College fraud suspect appears in court

The man accused of stealing $336,000 from Merced College over several years appeared in court Thursday.

Joseph Bisinger, 48, of Atwater is set to appear again at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 4, when the defense attorney and prosecutor are expected to move the case forward to trial or agree on a settlement. He appeared before Judge Mark V. Bacciarini.

The former lead purchasing agent for Merced College pleaded not guilty in August to felony charges of four counts of theft by false pretenses. Each count carries an enhancement because of the amount of money in question.

Prosecutors say Bisinger used a fake janitorial company to charge Merced College for services that never took place over seven years, from November 2007 through February. They were connected to Merced College’s former Los Banos campus, which was sold in September 2007.

Bisinger was placed on administrative leave in April while being investigated by Merced College and fired from the school in May. As Merced College’s lead purchasing agent, he was in charge of dealing with vendors and purchasing supplies for the campus, according to the college.

Bisinger started working for the college in March 2006 as a receiving clerk. He became the lead buyer in June 2010. As lead purchasing buyer, he made $48,300 per year.

He faces a maximum of six years in state prison.

Officials at Merced College have said in recent months that they changed the auditing processes at the school to ensure that more than one person must sign off on every purchase. The college’s fraud insurance has covered most of the money taken from the school, all but $500 of it, according to officials.

The college hired an outside forensic auditor to look at its purchasing and auditing practices. There is no word on when the findings will be reported.

This story was originally published December 4, 2014 at 7:09 PM with the headline "Merced College fraud suspect appears in court."