Minnesota professor raised $200k in honor of Philando Castile but used it inappropriately

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A Minnesota professor who raised $200,000 in honor of Philando Castile to pay student lunch debts, has to pay back $120,000 after misappropriating the funds.

State prosecutors say the fundraiser only gave a small piece of the money raised to the intended cause.

Minnesota professor misappropriated money for Philando Castile’s fundraiser

The New York Times reports that on Monday, March 28, the office of Minnesota’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, announced that Pamela Fergus, a former psychology professor at Metropolitan State University, has agreed to settle and will repay thousands of dollars collected during an online fundraiser titled “Philando Feeds the Children.”

The terms of the agreement allowed Fergus to not admit guilt and she is no longer allowed to run any charitable events in the state of Minnesota.

Fergus launched the fundraiser in 2017, a year after 32-year-old Philando Castile was killed by a police officer during a traffic stop. Before his senseless murder, Castile served as a nutrition supervisor at the J.J. Hill Montessori School and often paid school lunch fees for students in need.

Fergus promised “every dollar” donated would go to the relief of the lunch debts of elementary school students. The state alleges that it did not happen.

The state’s investigation into the fund-raiser began after Philando Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, told the attorney general’s office in January 2020 that she was concerned about how the money was being used.

The fundraiser started with a goal of $5,000 but quickly grew after the campaign went viral. Donations poured in above $200,000 and were deposited in Ms. Fergus’s personal bank account. As the money, and attention, grew, Ms. Fergus repeatedly said in public that she would use the donations to pay off students’ lunch debts and changed the donation goal to $999,999.

As part of the agreement, the attorney general’s office said that the repayment would be used to pay off students’ lunch debts at Saint Paul Public Schools, the district where Mr. Castile had been a cafeteria worker, and would pay for the lunches of students who could not afford them.

“Philando Castile cared deeply about the children he served, and the children loved him back,” Mr. Ellison said in a statement. “Failing to use every dollar raised to help those children was an insult to Philando’s legacy and all who loved him.”