A researcher in Canada has been living high on the government hog, spending thousands on toys and personal effects with federal money meant to fund his research.

According to a story from the Canwest News Service that ran in the Vancouver Sun yesterday, the scientist spent more than $20,000 on top-of-the-line cell phones, plasma televisions, 19-inch computer monitors, a home entertainment system, and even chrome exhaust pipes and customized aluminum wheels for his car from early 2003 to May 2005. Neither the researcher, his university, nor his field of research were named by Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), which awarded the scientist about $300,000 in the past five or six years in addition to a multi-year grant worth between $25,000 to $35,000 a year.

The university has apparently returned more than $21,000 to NSERC, and the researcher sent back $3,000 to other granting agencies that were financing his work.

The researcher and the university have not reached a settlement agreement, and the case is still "pending" with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, an NSERC spokesperson told the Vancouver Sun. No word on whether or not the scientist is still employed by the university.