Published Wed, Dec 01, 2010 04:04 AM
Modified Wed, Dec 01, 2010 10:07 AM

Two charged with embezzling at Duke

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From staff reports

DURHAM -- Duke Police have charged a surgeon and surgery department business manager with embezzling $267,000 from the university.

John William Cotton, 39, and his boss, Dr. Eric De Maria, 51, both of Raleigh, face felony charges for allegedly stealing the money from Duke in 2009.

Cotton also is charged separately with obtaining property by false pretenses. Police say he ordered goods and services through his job for his personal use, cheating Duke out of $58,706.

Cotton has worked for Duke since 1993. DeMaria, former director of the university's bariatric surgery program, had been at Duke since 2005. Both ended their jobs Aug. 1, though university officials declined to say whether they'd been terminated or had resigned.

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