Federal judge sentences former Tarleton professor to year in prison for stealing nearly $1 million from university.
- Jun 10, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 17, 2025
Dr. Julie Howell, a former associate professor and head of the department of educational leadership and technology at Tarleton State, is heading to federal prison next month.
Howell was sentenced on Tuesday to one year in prison for stealing $941,128 from the university during her employment. She will also serve three years of probation and was ordered to pay full restitution.
Howell, along with her attorney Patrick McClain, signed a plea agreement in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Fort Worth Division, on Jan. 23, 2025.
She reports to prison in early July.
She pleaded guilty to one count of Title 18, U.S. Code 666, theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.
According to the FBI’s factual resume of the case, obtained by Beneath the Surface News, Howell was issued a Texas A&M payment card to be used for official school business.
Instead, according to the FBI, between April 1, 2022 and April 9, 2024, she used the card for personal expenditures, disguising the transactions to make them appear as though they were school business.
“In doing so, Dr. Howell made payments using her cards to PayPal entities, that she controlled, that appeared as though they were for legitimate services.
“She would then transfer the money from the PayPal entities to her personal accounts.
“In reality, Dr. Howell used this money for her own personal expenditures, primarily related to gambling,” the documents state.
In addition, Howell used a university-issued credit card that was to be used for travel expenses, for more personal expenditures she disguised as official school business.
“We want to assure our university community that policy, rule or legal violations are taken seriously,” Tarleton’s director of communications Sven Alskog said in a previous statement.
“We are thankful for local and federal law enforcement for their efforts during a diligent investigation.”
Cases like this are a reminder that no one is above the law, regardless of their position. Wishing the university can recover from the loss—SRD Status Check.
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It's always so disheartening to hear about Scritchy Scratchy like this, especially within our education system.
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