10:53 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 12, 2006

By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA-TV

While the purchase of iPods and leather massage cushions by Dallas Independent School District employees may not be enough to outrage some, government watchdog Allen Gwinn's website, Dallas.org, may add some fuel to the fire.

By simply entering a school name, a list of DISD credit card holders and their expenses pop up for viewers to see.

Among those Gwinn found most interesting was a $400 tab at the AMC Movie Theater in Mesquite.

"Now was that $400 in movie tickets or was that a gift card for 400 dollars?" he asked. "We don't know."

He also said he would love to know why the same individual ran up a $100 bill at Chili's Bar & Grill and a $400 tab at Red Lobster.

"What can you buy at Cici's pizza for a $1,000, maybe the whole store?" he asked of another high receipt.

Gwinn's site highlights expenses charged at restaurants, as well as charges billed by school employees on the weekends.

"What do you buy on a Saturday for $525 dollars at a Kwikmart?" he asked.

He even posted suspicious transactions and rounded them off to the nearest hundreds or thousands.

Gwinn said even though he tried to warn the public of potential problems one year ago, it took a Dallas Morning News expose to bring it to light and begin to put it to a halt.

And while the district begins to discipline those who abused district credit cards, Gwinn continues his probe. Most recently he found a $1,400 tab for lunch at Pappadeaux's.

"And the district paid for it on their credit card," he said. "Now is that appropriate?"

E-mail bshipp@wfaa.com