New York ? USA Today has found its former star foreign correspondent Jack Kelley made up substantial portions of at least eight stories and plagiarized numerous quotes and other material from competing publications.

USA Today reported its initial findings of an investigation in a front-page story in Friday editions, along with other stories enumerating Kelley’s fabrications — including an article published in 2000 in which he made up a story about a woman dying while trying to flee Cuba by boat.

“As an institution, we failed our readers by not recognizing Jack Kelley’s problems,” publisher Craig Moon said. “For that I apologize.”

A team of reporters examined more than 700 stories Kelley wrote from 1993 through 2003.

The team also found Kelley, 43, had stolen quotes or other material from competing publications, lied in speeches he delivered for USA Today and conspired to mislead the investigation into his work.

An examination of his company-owned computer unearthed scripts Kelley had written to help at least three people mislead reporters attempting to verify his work, the newspaper said.

Kelley resigned in January after he admitted trying to deceive editors checking the veracity of some of his reporting. Suspicions later surfaced that Kelley may have also committed plagiarism, and a second panel was formed to examine the writer’s entire 21-year career at the paper.

Confronted with the findings of the latest investigation Thursday, Kelley denied any wrongdoing. “I feel like I’m being set up,” he told the editors.

Lisa J. Banks, a lawyer representing Kelley, declined to comment.

The three former newspaper editors brought in to conduct the investigation — Bill Hilliard, Bill Kovach and John Seigenthaler — called Kelley’s conduct “a sad and shameful betrayal of public trust.”

“It’s a rough day for the paper,” said Peter Johnson, a media columnist who has worked at USA Today since 1983. “The shock is settling in here, and people are just trying to digest an unsettling report.”