Monday, June 12, 2000
Background check may not show crime
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — A criminal background check might have been all the American Cancer Society needed to discover that an executive charged with stealing $6.9 million from the agency had been convicted of white-collar crimes in three states.
But there is no assurance a check would have turned up anything unusual, the Columbus Dispatch reported Sunday.
Dan Wiant, the former chief administrative officer for the charity's Ohio division, is charged with bank fraud for allegedly wiring the money to an Austrian bank account last week. He will be arraigned today in federal court.
It might seem that an employer should have little trouble learning about a prospective employee's criminal past, but a background check is a net with big holes. Records often are incomplete or restricted by privacy laws, costs can run high and turnaround time is lengthy, the newspaper said.
The Cancer Society's Ohio division did not do background checks until after Mr. Wiant was hired in December 1994, officials said. Whether a check would have turned up anything remains unclear.
Bad-check charges against Mr. Wiant in Delaware and Marion counties do not show up in a check of Franklin County court records.
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