A University of Connecticut professor facing a felony larceny charge allegedly used more than $50,000 in university funds to finance vacations to Disney World with her family, numerous trips to Ireland where her daughter was living — including one when she got married — and a number of other personal trips.
Sherry Lynn Zane, 56, of Hebron faces one count of first-degree larceny after an internal probe at the university and a subsequent criminal investigation found that she allegedly misused university and grant funds during several of the 19 trips she took between 2021 and 2023, according to a report released Wednesday by UConn officials.
The lengthy investigation conducted by the Office of University Compliance alleged that UConn paid for a portion of or the entirety of the travel, which totaled 187 days, none of which Zane reportedly claimed as personal time, the report said. The travel expenses incurred by the university totaled $58,084. Officials noted in the report that 12 of the trips occurred when classes were in session and Zane was assigned to teach courses.
According to the report, Zane — who was hired by UConn in August 2015 as an assistant professor — alleged “planned or created work after the fact in an effort to justify the expenses” on multiple occasions and allegedly provided “misleading or false information” when asked about the travel. For a majority of the trips, the report said, she allegedly submitted “misleading or false information” on travel request forms and would engage in activities “distinctly different and off-topic from the agreed-upon purpose.”
UConn faculty member charged with larceny for alleged use of grants funds for pricey personal travel
The probe began after the office received an anonymous report alleging “multiple instances of suspicious charges being claimed for reimbursement” involving an overlap between personal and university-related activities. The anonymous report named Zane specifically and went on to claim that she made “several high-cost trips to Ireland claiming that there are specific research needs that she can only accomplish in that location.” The expenses associated with the trips allegedly included “business meals with anonymous attendees, multi-month gym memberships” and “edited receipts” that were either handwritten or photoshopped, the report said.
The anonymous tip also alerted university officials that Zane had close relatives living in Ireland and that her other university-funded travel allegedly included a trip to Disney with her children and “other desirable locations for ‘research’ such as Portugal,” according to the report.
The compliance office consulted with the university’s Office of Audit Management and Advisory Services to review Zane’s travel between June of 2021 and July 2023. University officials identified 19 trips, including 17 that were then flagged as “potentially having unreported personal travel or lacking the sufficient documentation to support the purpose of business travel,” the report said. The scope of her travel was later expanded to two additional trips in November and December 2023 following another anonymous report.
According to the report, the investigation found that Zane allegedly took vacations with her children, including three trips to Disney World, while expensing part of the trips or the entire thing under the pretense of doing “research.” Investigators also found that she allegedly visited family members multiple times in the Chicago area, including trips to attend a family wedding and to help care for her ailing stepfather, the report said. In a number of emails turned up by investigators, it was discovered that Zane allegedly referred to many of these trips to her students and others as “vacations.”
The report said investigators discovered that Zane went to Belfast, Northern Ireland a total of seven times, including six over a 15-month period, and that her daughter had moved there to attend college. During one of these trips, she attended her daughter’s graduation ceremony and, during another, she reportedly got married.
The investigation also found that Zane in March 2020 allegedly entered into a consulting agreement with a film company in which she would be compensated $12,000 for consulting services on a film project and access to her research materials. According to the report, she allegedly did not submit a request for Faculty Consulting Approval, which was required under the university’s policy. Several of the trips she took were allegedly attributed to research she was reportedly doing in connection with the consulting agreement, the report said.
In July 2023, Zane was also named the principal investigator on a $100,000 grant UConn received. According to the report, $45,000 was earmarked for faculty travel.
As investigators combed through the travel Zane expensed over the years, they allegedly found a trip to Orlando, Florida in June and July 2021 in which the university paid about $2,454, including part of the hotel expenses, according to the report. She was allegedly accompanied on the trip by two of her children, the report said.
Though she cited the business purpose of the travel as visiting the “Central Florida State Archives,” she allegedly admitted to university officials during the investigation she did not actually go there and claimed that “…it’s not uncommon for people to say they are going to go do one thing and then end up going to do another,” the report said.
“The purpose of this trip was to look at the experience of Disney and how it polices and sanitizes American History in the parks,” Zane allegedly told investigators when asked about the numerous trips she expensed to the university, the report said. “So, I was looking at how social history is presented and how the park controls that narrative.”
While in Disney, Zane allegedly said she “stood in lines for rides, talked to people, and watched people interact with their children,” the report said. She also allegedly claimed she made a “mental mapping” of how the park was laid out.
When asked for documentation of her work, she said “This trip is really old and… I didn’t officially interview people. I talked to people who were standing in line but didn’t have formal conversations…,” according to the report.
Investigators also alleged that Zane told her students she would not be available during the last week of classes while she was in Florida because she had a “family emergency,” the report said. She allegedly admitted to investigators she did not want her students to know she was in Disney.
During a trip to Chicago, Illinois in July 2021, Zane allegedly cited the business justification of the travel as “research archival for book manuscript, according to the report. Investigators noted that her mother and stepfather have a home in Geneva, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Zane arrived in Chicago on July 10, 2021, and rented a car the next day to drive 438 miles to Osage Beach, Missouri where she spent seven nights at the Margaritaville Lake Resort, the report said. Though the hotel was not expensed to the university, investigators alleged that “all other expenses for this trip were.” They also said Zane was accompanied by her children and her mother and that UConn incurred about $1,622 in expenses.
Investigators also alleged that Zane booked a hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina between Sept. 9-13, 2021, for two people before canceling the reservation, according to the report. Her assistant allegedly later made a reservation for her at the same hotel on the same dates for one person.
When asked about the anomaly, Zane allegedly said she could not recall why the reservation was cancelled and then re-booked, the report said. She allegedly admitted that she was “seeing someone” at the time of the trip but she claimed that she went alone, investigators wrote. UConn paid about $1,199 for the travel expenses.
In May 2022, Zane took a trip to Chicago and had UConn pay for two nights at a Hampton Inn and Suites, the report said. Investigators allegedly discovered an email she sent to a colleague indicating she attended a family wedding during one of these nights.
During another trip to Florida in June 2022, Zane allegedly justified her travel as attending an “anime convention” for “pop culture” research, according to the report. While there, she alleged that she met with “conference people” at different theme parks in Disney World, the report said. One of the meetings, she alleged, was a way to “observe their interactions.” The university paid about $3,317 for expenses tied to the trip.
The investigation also allegedly turned up an email that was sent to Zane in August 2022 on the day she would be returning to the country from Ireland in which a man referenced proposing to her, adding that the past 10 days had “changed (his) life forever,” the report said. When asked about the trip, which cost the university $7,043, Zane allegedly said she did not actually get engaged and that the man was only joking around, according to the report.
Investigators claimed that they found that Zane later married the man during a trip to Ireland in November 2023, the report said. University officials during the probe asked her if the trip was planned for the purpose of getting married, and she claimed that she was not aware that she would be going through with the marriage until the day before it happened, according to the report.
University officials allegedly uncovered an email in which Zane wrote, in part, “I’m coming there in November. And we’re gonna get married…,” the report said, allegedly indicating she knew of the marriage plans the previous month or possibly earlier. About $2,293 of expenses from the trip came from a grant UConn received.
Earlier in the year, Zane spent about a month in Belfast, Northern Ireland between June and July, billing UConn $7,462, according to university officials. During that time, the report said, her daughter graduated from college. Investigators also alleged that Zane had planned to get married during the trip but called off the wedding, according to the report.
The lengthy investigation and subsequent report was completed on Nov. 14. The next day, Zane was put on administrative leave where she remains pending the outcome of the university’s disciplinary process. In 2020, she received a five-year appointment as an associate professor in residence, which is set to expire in August.
Zane could not be reached for comment. A message sent to her university email on Thursday came back with an automatic reply indicating she is on leave.
Following the completion of the report, a complaint was made with the UConn Police Department. Investigators obtained a warrant for Zane’s arrest on Feb. 4. She agreed to turn herself in at the police department on Feb. 13 and was released on a $10,000 non-surety bond.
According to police records, Zane appeared in Rockville Superior Court on Monday. She did not enter a plea during the hearing, court records show. The case was continued until April 4.
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