Attorney General drops probe of Penn News

The state's decision ends a probe launched in February after two students asked the Attorney General's office to help them and over 120 other subscribers seek refunds from Penn News due to the newspaper delivery company's spotty service. Several calls made to the JIO's office last week were not returned, and Monk, a Wharton senior, said yesterday he had not been contacted by either the JIO or the Attorney General's office. But Galloway, the investigating agent on the case for the office's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the case was closed because the investigation had been at a "standstill" since the spring, when Monk failed to appear at three scheduled meetings and did not bring key documents to another. Galloway added he could not contact "some other players" involved in the case, apparently including Mark Stanley, the former owner of Penn News. Monk has accused Stanley of selling the business to him after its financial problems had already started and of misspending Penn News money. The agent said Monk's lack of cooperation and the confusion over who was involved made it impossible for his office to find all the answers in a case which Galloway has said all along belongs in the JIO's office. While it is unclear what might result from an investigation by the JIO, Monk's problems do not appear over. In mid-April, Monk announced he had finally raised enough money from friends and relatives to begin refunding customers who had paid in advance for spring delivery and those who complained during the fall about the quality of service. But Monk never fulfilled his promise because his friends and relatives "went back on their word and left me out in the cold" without enough money," he said yesterday. And he has yet to pay off debts to several Penn News creditors, including The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today, to whom he owes more than $24,000. Because Penn News is not incorporated, Monk is personally liable for all debts the company owes. Monk has blamed the University for many of his company's problems, which began last fall when the door-to-door delivery system grew increasingly unreliable. At the time, Monk accused Penn Student Agencies, the University-affiliated agency which had previously run the newspaper delivery operation, of not regularly supplying the delivery vans and drivers that he alleged University officials had agreed to provide. Later in the semester, when only a few subscribers had paid their bills and Monk could not pay the newspaper companies, Monk again blamed the University. He said Deputy Vice Provost George Koval initially agreed to let Penn News bill students through the University's Bursar's Office, but later reneged on the deal. By the time Monk could bill students over winter break, many customers were unwilling to pay for newspapers which they said had been delivered only infrequently, and the newspaper companies had stopped supplying Penn News with papers. Koval and other University officials deny Monk's allegations, saying Penn News knew before school started last year that vans would be provided only when available and that students could not be billed through the Bursar's Office. Meanwhile, PSA has resumed on-campus newspaper delivery this year, but the door-to-door system has been abandoned in favor of drop boxes.

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