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Ex-C.R. educator gets prison termDahn was accused of stealing from college he headed in KansasBy Kurt RogahnGazette education writerGaylon Dahn, a former administrator at Kirkwood Community College, was sentenced Thursday to serve three to eight years in prison for stealing from the Kansas college he headed as president.Dahn was the head of Kirkwood's community education division before becoming president of Dodge City Community College six years ago. Before that, he had a successful career as a basketball coach at Keota, Mount Pleasant, and at Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School.Earlier this spring, Dahn, 58, pleaded no contest to four felony counts and two misdemeanors in a plea agreement. Thirty-nine criminal counts had been filed against him last fall.He was sentenced Thursday to serve concurrent terms of two to five years on two of the felony counts, concurrent terms of one to three years on the other two felony counts, and concurrent terms of up to one year on the two misdemeanor counts.Kansas authorities say. that means Dahn will spend between three and eight years in a Kansas prison.Dahn could remain free on bond for up to two weeks. “We’re waiting for bed space,” said Ford County, Kan., Attorney Leigh Hood.HOOD SAID the sentencing judge said Dahn had violated a trust and never offered an explanation.The managing editor of the Dodge City Daily Globe, Pat Slattery, recalled that the board of Dodge City Community College was impressed with Dahn’s resume when he was hired six years ago.Under Dahn, the college gave greater emphasis to community education and was awarded many grants. “He did a lot of good things,” Slattery said.That description of Dahn squares with one offered by Don Roby, new president of Northeast Iowa Community College, who worked with Dahn when both were at Kirkwood.I was Gay Dahn’s assistant,” Roby said. “He was very good — creative, dynamic, had good ideas. . . He wasn’t difficult for me to work for. He worked many hours. He’d come in on Saturdays and Sundays. He was immersed in his job. He believed in the philosophy of community education.”More than that, Roby continued. “He did a lot of things for individual people, people who had problems. He would reach out to help them.”Slattery said last fall’s filing of charges against Dahn was preceded by nine or 10 months of scrutiny and off-the-record comments and accusations by a couple of board members and faculty members.”Dahn was in his fifth year as college president, earning $57,420 a year plus a $375 monthly car allowance, when an audit turned up between $4,000 and $40,000 in questionable charges on a credit card he controlled. The audit also revealed payments to consultants not authorized by the board.The Dodge City board suspended Dahn inMarch 1989 and gave him two weeks to answer questions about the money. But Dahn resigned on April 3, and newspaper clippings from the Wichita Eagle and the Dodge City Daily Globe say those questions never were answered.DAHN PLEADED no contest to the charges, thus avoiding a trial. He refused an interview with the Globe, and he has refused repeated requests for interviews by The Ga-7£tteRecently, he has been living in Denver, Colo., and working as an educational consultant.Four other people, including Dahn’s two sons, were charged in connection with the case.The Ford County Attorneys Office said charges still are pending against Dahn’s sons, David. 27, of Elgin, 111., and Jeffrey, 32, of Cedar Rapids, a sportswriter for The Gazette. Each is accused of accepting $3,000 for consulting work he never did.However, both sons and Jerry Owens, 47, of Greenwood, S.C., have been placed in a “pretrial diversion agreement,” similar to probation, for one year. They will not be prosecuted if they make restitution and commit no other crimes, the Ford County Attorney’s Office said.Charges against Ken Freeman, 48, of Elgin, 111., were dropped this spring in return for his testimony against Dahn.County Attorney Hood earlier said Dahn authorized monthly $1,000 checks to Freeman and Owens, and every other check was returned to Dahn. Hood said the scheme was discovered when someone at the junior college noticed Dahn’s endorsement on a check.Hood described Freeman and Owens as old friends of Dahn.
Newspaper Details
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US
Fri, Jul 20, 1990
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Dave D.
NA, 18 Jan 2025
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