Former DeKalb County schools official Pat Reid and her ex-husband architect Tony Pope adamantly insisted Wednesday they did not conspire with each other — or anyone else — to manipulate construction contracts to their benefit.
In the hours after DeKalb prosecutors announced they rested their portion of the racketeering and theft case against Reid and Pope, both defendants testified that they had done nothing wrong.
“Did you agree to steal money from DeKalb County with Tony Pope,” defense attorney Tony Axam asked his client, Reid, once the district’s chief operating officer.
“No,” she answered.
“Did you knowingly take any money that was not owed you?” defense attorney J. Tom Morgan asked Pope.
“No,” Pope said.
Prosecutors say Reid used her position overseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in school construction to help her husband’s firm to collect more than $1 million beyond what he was owed.
Reid was working at A. Vincent Pope & Associates in late 2005 when she came to the school system.
One condition of her employment was that once he had finished his then-current contract for renovations at Columbia High School, Pope could not do any work for the district as long as his wife was COO.
“They said (district officials) couldn’t find a policy that reflected a conflict of interest but they said an appearance of conflict of interest was just as important,” Reid said during her brief testimony Wednesday that is to resume Thursday. “They said if I went forward with the job, I would not contract any more work (for the district) with A. Vincent Pope & Associates.”
Still, prosecutors say, Reid continued to give Pope business by treating new work as extensions of the existing Columbia High School contract he was allowed to keep. Pope also allegedly hid his role in work at McNair Elementary, using another architect as a front.
Reid is charged with one count of racketeering and three counts of theft by taking and facing up to 65 years in prison if convicted. Pope is charged with one count each of racketeering and theft and could get up to 30 years in prison.
Former Superintendent Crawford Lewis, who was indicted with Reid and Pope has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction for interfering with the investigation that led to their charges.
Prosecutors said Pope and his firm were paid more than $1 million not earned for work at two schools — Columbia High School and the McNair Elementary School Cluster.
Pope testified there was nothing sinister or wrong about his work on Columbia or McNair.
He said the over payments for the Columbia High School renovations were simply mistakes. Pope said Reid brought to the architectural firm the business acumen he lacked.
“I’ve proven myself to be just the artist,” he said.
Prosecutors used emails Pope had written to get him to confirm that he had an advantage over others because of his marriage to the district’s COO.
In an email to unindicted co-conspirator David Moody of C.D. Moody Construction Pope wrote, “I know she rated us as team No. 1” among those competing for the McNair Elementary School contract.
Pope also told Moody when to expect a decision on the awarding of the McNair contract. “She (Reid) should respond on your best and final [offer] positively,” Pope wrote.
But Pope said during testimony Wednesday he really did not know at the time that Reid could influence the vote to award construction contracts.
“David was an important client,” Pope testified Wednesday. “I wanted David to feel I was in control. I was telling Dave what I thought he needed to hear. I did not know how we ranked because the evaluation had not been completed.’
Moody won the contract that listed Vernell Barnes, another unindicted co-conspirator, as the architect of record. Barnes had testified earlier that Pope did almost all the work and he soon realized his role was to be a cover for Pope.
Pope testified, however, that it was common for an architect of record to sub-contract work and that is what he was on McNair. “I am not the architect of record. I was in the background,” he said.
An email read in court suggested otherwise.
“Thanks for letting us be on the team. Even in the dark,” Pope wrote Moody.
Prosecutors’ questioning suggested a motive.
Before Reid took the job with $109,000 a year position with DeKalb schools, her husband was trying to resolve a $360,000 IRS bill for employee taxes.
And by 2007, they were spending money on trips to Italy and Costa Rica and Reid was driving a $70,000 Jaguar.
Pope testified those were expenses his wife covered.
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