In separate lawsuits, Roger W. Goodman of Summerville and Marguerite Tomasino of Goose Creek say they quit their Corrections jobs after supervisors ordered them to ignore evidence and keep quiet about officials stealing from a program to build homes for the elderly.

Goodman, a former carpentry and plumbing teacher at Lieber Correctional Institution, and Tomasino, a Corrections internal affairs investigator, say there was a conspiracy among prison officials to fleece the United Methodist Relief Center and then to cover up their actions.

Together, they tell a complex story of intimidation, coercion, a mysterious man posing as an FBI agent and prisoners embarrassed by the plot to steal from a church charity.

"I have absolute evidence that employees of the Department of Corrections committed crimes and covered it up," Goodman said Monday. "I want to see the people who committed those crimes prosecuted like anyone else would be."

Corrections officials deny the allegations, some privately characterizing Goodman and Tomasino as disgruntled former employees trying to generate publicity for their grievance lawsuits.

"This whole issue is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit, and it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on that," said Charlie Sheppard, inspector general at Corrections. "However, we vigorously deny the allegations."

The story dates back to 1999 and centers on a program conceived by the United Methodist Relief Center to build wood houses on mobile home frames for senior citizens. Using state grant money, the Mount Pleasant-based charity planned to use volunteers to build the homes but later got the idea of using inmate labor.

According to court documents, prison officials and the United Methodist Relief Center agreed to a deal in June 1999, with the idea being that the incentive for the prison was having a public service effort for inmates to work on.

To make it easier to get materials into the prison, Goodman -- who supervised the inmate building programs -- was authorized to sign for purchases on the Relief Center's account at Lowe's. Goodman said shortly after the program began, his supervisor told him to order several thousand dollars worth of tools on the charity's tab.

When Goodman refused, he said, another worker with the same authority was added to the project. In depositions connected to Goodman's lawsuit against the Corrections Department, the man said he was instructed to order two to three times as much material as was needed.

Around that time, court documents say, the same supervisor who had told his men to over-order supplies asked Pat Goss, executive director of the United Methodist Relief Center, for some money to cover labor costs -- about $7,000. Goss refused to pay.

"I felt like that if he got that, that he'd be back for more," Goss said in a deposition in the Goodman lawsuit. "That was how I felt. Whether he intended it that way or not, that was how I felt about this conversation."

After that, Goodman and Tomasino say, some Lieber officials took advantage of the deal to illicitly purchase additional building materials on the charity's Lowe's account. Eventually, Goss wrote a letter demanding to see the bills from the hardware store. When she complained, Goss said in her deposition, a high-ranking Corrections official requested a private meeting with her, alone, at Lieber. She declined to attend.

Tomasino said she advised Goss not to go.

Later, Goss told investigators, a man showed up at the Relief Center office claiming to be investigating the issue for Corrections. He handed her an FBI business card with the logo marked out, saying he was a former agent and asked her to call him with information.

Tomasino told The Post and Courier Monday that she first heard allegations of wrongdoing against the Relief Center from "informants" and later from Goodman.

Her investigation found that, of the three trailer homes that inmates built, the two directed by Goodman had come in close to budgeted amounts. But the house built by the other instructor cost an additional $6,500.

Tomasino said her supervisor in internal affairs told her she couldn't interview ranking officials in Corrections, and she was asked to close her investigation. Goodman said that about that time, in October 2001, prison officials abruptly cancelled the elderly housing program.

Later, Tomasino was told her report had been forwarded to the State Law Enforcement Division, which declined to investigate. Goodman and Tomasino said SLED began an investigation, but abruptly cancelled it. SLED officials said neither is true.

"This is a closed case," SLED Chief Robert Stewart said Monday. "It has been worked and completed. We gave the report of all the information we gathered to the solicitors in Charleston and Dorchester counties, and they declined to prosecute."

According to Tomasino, her internal affairs report was altered before it was turned over to SLED. Chalmers Johnson, a Charleston attorney working on Goodman and Tomasino's cases, as well as another former internal affairs investigator's case, said the report was missing the names of ranking administrators in the department when it arrived on SLED's doorstep. And the content had been altered.

Among documents connected to Goodman's lawsuit are two versions of the Tomasino report. The first includes mention of a letter from Goss that said "there may be a conspiracy to cover up misappropriation of materials purchased" on the charity's account.

In the version of Tomasino's report that went to SLED, however, there was an additional paragraph that said, "When interviewed Goss stated that she did not personally believe there was any conspiracy to cover up a misappropriation of funds."

In her deposition, Goss denied ever saying that. Contacted by The Post and Courier Monday, Goss confirmed that denial, noting that even prisoners wrote to the Relief Center apologizing for what had happened.

"We did have materials that were inappropriately ordered and used," Goss said. "I did report that to the authorities and expected them to investigate it."

Months after the prison and Relief Center partnership ended, Goss told investigators that Corrections officials said they had material left over, but she had to pick it up. When someone retrieved that material from Lieber, it was material of similar value to the things that had been unaccounted for.

Goss said a ranking prison official made a remark to the effect that this squared their accounts.

According to her deposition, Goss replied, "If you rob a bank and you bring the money back, did you still rob the bank?"

The controversy surrounding the prison's building program led to Goodman and Tomasino leaving the Corrections Department. Goodman said after he told internal affairs about what was going on, he received a bad review from his boss and was told he could be fired after three poor performance ratings.

He took unpaid leave, quit in 2002 and filed a lawsuit alleging "constructive discharge," a legal term that basically means he was forced out.

Tomasino quit in 2002, as well, saying too many of her investigations had been stopped or ignored.

"This was the one that broke the camel's back," she said. She has filed a lawsuit similar to Goodman's against Corrections.

Goodman and Johnson have compiled nearly 600 pages of depositions, letters, invoices and other documentation related to this case. On Monday, Goodman sent the results of the two-year investigation to Gov. Mark Sanford's office, asking that he follow and enforce the laws of South Carolina against the people who cost him his state retirement.

Sanford spokesman Will Folks said Monday evening, "We will refer any such report to the Department of Corrections for review by the new administration."

Goodman said a review isn't enough.

"I have the evidence and have given it to them, so there's nothing to investigate," Goodman said. "If they say they are just going to look into it, I guess I'm going to the FBI."

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