HOUSTON -- Jurors will soon start deliberating the punishment for a former Texas Southern University financial officer found guilty of helping cover up a tax-funded personal spending spree, KPRC Local 2 reported Monday.

Quintin Wiggins, the university's former vice president of finance, was found guilty of one count of misapplication of fiduciary property with a value over $200,000, a first-degree felony. Jurors deliberated for 1½ days before reaching the verdict last week.

Prosecutors said Wiggins helped hide a nearly $300,000 spending spree by the university's now-former president, Priscilla Slade.

Wiggins approved expenditures for Slade's estate, prosecutors said. Documents showed $138,000 was spent on landscaping, $86,000 for furniture and $61,000 on a security system.

Wiggins violated university and state procurement rules by approving the purchases and by failing to tell TSU's board of regents or other school officials about them.

Wiggins' wife took the stand in the punishment phase of the trial to testify on his behalf. She told the jury that Wiggins is a family man with three children who deserves probation and not prison time.

Wiggins did not testify.

"Mr. Wiggins is real emotional right now. And he's very distraught about the verdict. He's listening to everything that's going on. He doesn't feel like he would be real helpful at this time because of his emotions as a witness. So, we decided that it wouldn't be in his best interest to put him on the stand," said L. Mickele Daniels, Wiggins' attorney.

Slade and two other university officials were also indicted on charges related to the purchases.

Evidence in the punishment phase of the trial included testimony about Wiggins' prior arrests for impersonating an officer and driving while intoxicated.

"All those (arrests) are 10 to 20 years old. This man has been a good citizen in this community and done a lot of good for the people in this community, including Texas Southern University," Daniels said.

The jury could sentence Wiggins to five years probation or five to 99 years in prison.

Slade, the school's president for more than six years before she was fired in June, is set for trial in August on two charges of criminally misusing university money for private benefit.

The allegations against Wiggins, Slade and others coincided with a series of reports that revealed a pattern of financial mismanagement at the school and prompted Gov. Rick Perry to initially call for a state takeover of the historically black university.

The campus in Houston has an enrollment of about 11,000 students and is the alma mater of the late U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan and other notables.