Mr. Lawson was the Foreman of the
GCPS bus garage. Part of his duties included purchasing repair parts, tools,
etc. related to maintaining GCPS’ fleet of vehicles. Mr. Lawson purchased a
welder valued at over $2,000 using GCPS funds. He knew he had to have his
supervisor’s permission to make such a purchase and did not tell her. He knew
he could not purchase anything over $1,500 on the County credit card and talked
the salesperson into breaking the cost into two separate purchases to hide what
he was doing. He even talked the salesperson into submitting the two bills
several days apart to make it harder to be discovered. One of the purchases was
listed as being the welder and the other was for some sort of accessory kit
that was not carried by or sold by the vendor; in fact, the accessory kit did
not exist at all.
To further conceal his crimes, Mr.
Lawson arranged for the welder to be delivered to the bus garage to his
attention and during a period when he would likely be the only person there. Unfortunately
for Mr. Lawson, the welder was delivered on Thursday, March 30, 2017 instead of
during the following week when everyone would have been off for spring break. Because
of this, numerous other employees saw the new welder when it was delivered and
began to talk about it. Mr. Lawson had the delivery driver unload the welder in
the “tire barn” which is typically used to store tires and old equipment. Later
that day an employee of the garage noticed the welder had been covered with
black trash bags. By the morning shift the next day the welder had disappeared
from the “tire barn” and remained missing until April 19, 2017.
Mr. Lawson was finally confronted
about the welder and several other items missing from the garage on April 19,
2017. Then Transportation Director, Anne Lanan; Human Resources Director, Gwyn
Ciemniecki and Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services, John
Hutchinson were the confronters. When Mr. Lawson was first asked where the
welder was, he said it was in the bus garage in the middle of the workstation; at that point the conversation ended, and Mr. Lawson was
placed on administrative leave.
Ms. Lanan then went to the garage where she did not find the new welder. She
informed Ms. Ciemniecki who then called Mr. Lawson and asked if there was
anything else, he wanted to tell them. Mr. Lawson said he loaned the welder to
Tabb Fox, a friend of his and owner of Fox’s Auto Repair. Ms. Ciemniecki told
Mr. Lawson he needed to bring the welder back immediately and Mr. Lawson asked
if he could have until 5:30 p.m. When he brought it back later that afternoon,
he resigned from GCPS. No one ever saw the welder at Tabb Fox’s garage and its
location was unknow for 19 days.
Well, all that sounds pretty cut and dry if you assume GCPS administration
are the ones who contacted law enforcement. That is not what happened at all.
They allowed Mr. Lawson to resign and walk away. If not for the due diligence
of an anonymous source who reported the theft to the Sheriff, the Commonwealth’s
Attorney and the State Police, Mr. Lawson would have been allowed to do just
that, walk away. It must have been very disheartening for that anonymous citizen
when they found out Mr. Lawson’s punishment was a conviction for only one of
his crimes, no jail time, $500 in court costs and no way to verify Mr. Clemons or
anyone else with GCPS submitted the required paperwork to revoke Mr. Lawsons
Virginia Retirement System (VRS) benefits as required by Commonwealth law.
In late April the Sheriff, the anonymous source and
the Commonwealth Attorney met, and it was decided to have the State Police
investigate the anonymous source’s allegations. In a phone conversation after
that meeting, the Sheriff informed Mr. Clemons of the complaint made by the anonymous
source and let him know the State Police would be contacting him. Mr. Clemons “then”
told the Sheriff about some returned stolen property and asked about filing a
police report with the Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff told him that based on
a conflict of interest, he should notify the State Police instead. Imagine
that, Mr. Clemons was ready to report returned stolen property after being told
the State Police would be making contact. On May 17, 2017 a police investigator
met with the Commonwealth Attorney to commence the State Police’s involvement.
Mr. Clemons and his administration
appear to have closed the book on Mr. Lawson on April 19, 2017 when they let
him resign and did not contact law enforcement; or so they thought until the anonymous
source threw a wrench in their coverup. If you don’t believe it, ask Mr.
Clemons to show the report filed with the Sheriff’s Department reflecting GCPS’
allegations of the theft. Ask him to show any report they filed with any law
enforcement agency before the late April 2017 phone call from the Sheriff’s
Department. He can’t because none exist. If Mr. Clemons and his staff intended
to do the right thing, they would have called the Sheriff’s Department on April
19, 2017 when Mr. Lawson supposedly first lied to them about the welder’s
whereabouts. At this point it is hard to trust anything coming from Mr. Clemons
or the School Board.
Why were they covering for Mr. Lawson?
What were the other items missing from the garage referenced in the Commonwealth’s
Bill of Particulars? Why did it take 19 days after the welder went missing for
GCPS Administration to confront Mr. Lawson? What other systemic accountability
problems does GCPS have that have not yet come to light? Has Mr. Lawson’s VRS
benefits been revoked through application by GCPS and in accordance with the
Code of Virginia? Have corrective measures been taken to prevent this type of
theft in the future? Are other areas within GCPS being looked at for signs of the
same or similar weaknesses in accountability and control? Etc. etc. etc. We
deserve answers to these questions and many more.
One thing is for certain out of what
we know so far, Mr. Clemons is not the kind of public-school superintendent the
citizens of Gloucester County need, want or deserve. If you do not align with his
vision for GCPS, he has no use for you. He has lost accountability and control
of the transportation division and who knows how many other areas within GCPS.
He participated in covering up for a felon employee. He has created a work
environment where employees are afraid to speak up, express an opinion or even
speak about matters of concern during public comment at School Board meetings.
It appears to be all about Mr. Clemons’ image and his vision for GCPS; whatever
that truly is.
What do we do about it all? I and
many others believe the best thing that could happen at this point, would be
for Mr. Clemons and everyone, including School Board members, who participated
in the coverup to submit their resignations from GCPS effective immediately. They
have irreparably broken the citizens’ trust. Maybe they can all get a job working
for the welder thief who seems to mean more to them than the students and
taxpayers of Gloucester County and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Kenny Hogge, Sr.
Gloucester Point, Va.
Here is a link to GCPS web page with the
School Board’s and other email addresses. Let them know this is not how we want
any area in our public schools managed and do not appreciate their lack of
control over how our tax dollars are spent. Tell them Mr. Clemons has worn out
his welcome in Gloucester County.
Be sure to checkout the legal
documents about the welder thief in the SlideShare presentation below and emails with Mr. Clemons and School Board member Robin Rice. More Later………………..
