Decatur High School parents are reconsidering a proposal to name a campus garden in honor of a longtime volunteer who killed himself after being indicted for child pornography.
The Decatur High School PTSA has collected more than $6,100 in donations in honor of architect Bruce Fabrick, who helped start the community garden at the school. The PTSA was looking at a way to memorialize Fabrick, who died in December, by possibly naming the garden after him or adding birdhouses with his name.
Those plans have been put on hold after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found Fabrick had been indicted a day before his death with possession and distribution of child pornography. Based on a tip, the AJC obtained records surrounding his arrest. Despite the news, some parents say they still want to move forward with a memorial.
“I had no idea. This was definitely something that none of us knew about. I’m shocked,” said Diane Loupe, chair of the garden for the PTSA. “I don’t think any of us want to appear to support this and so we now likely will not name the garden for him.”
However, the PTSA’s secretary and vice president said they knew about the charges and still would consider naming part of the garden in honor of Fabrick.
“I knew about it, but I don’t know what the whole deal was,” said secretary Leonard Thibadeau, a friend of Fabrick’s. “All I’m thinking about is he did good and let’s remember the good. I don’t want to ignore that, but I’m not going to gossip about it.”
PTSA Vice President Fran Frantz said no formal proposal is currently before the board, but she would not object to it.
“I prefer not to remember Bruce in that light. In truth, it’s just one of those things,” she said. “He did pour life blood into that garden.”
Fabrick, 56, was married and had a daughter who attended Decatur High School. For 21 years, he worked as a residential architect and served as president of Fabrick Architects, which he ran out of his Decatur home. Working from his home enabled him to be closely involved with his only daughter and serve on the PTSA, friends say, which is what led to his involvement in the school’s garden. But even after she graduated, Fabrick continued to build fences and plow fields and work with some of the students after school. He rigged up a contraption to pump water from a fire hydrant to the plots and was always pointing out different species of birds, parents and teachers said.
This was the man they wanted to remember by honoring him in the garden he loved so much.
Although the garden is on school property, the school system said the PTSA and community volunteers maintain the garden. The PTSA is also handling the naming project and Fabrick donations, district spokesman Bruce Roaden said.
“We didn’t know about the charges [against Fabrick]. He was not working with the kids at all and only worked with the garden,” Roaden said.
DeKalb District Attorney’s records obtained by the AJC show an Illinois online child exploitation task force found hundreds of images of children engaged in sexual activity or lewd poses being downloaded on a home computer in Decatur. The Illinois detectives contacted DeKalb officials with evidence of Fabrick downloading and offering to trade child pornography, according to records.
In September, records show investigators raided Fabrick’s home, seizing computers and external storage drives. Prosecutors said no local children were victims.
Fabrick told detectives he had a “novelty” interest in child pornography and estimated he had downloaded hundreds of files within a month, according to the records. Investigators said Fabrick’s wife was unaware of the images.
Hours after he was arrested and charged, Fabrick was released on a $22,000 bond, but there were no conditions of his bond, including nothing that barred him from working with children, said the DeKalb Superior Court Clerk’s office.
Following his release, Fabrick returned to work in the high school’s garden. Loupe said she saw him there frequently, but there were always other adults present. Decatur schools require all volunteers to have background checks, but since Fabrick wasn’t working inside a school, that was not required, Roaden said.
On Dec. 21, a grand jury indicted Fabrick on 11 counts of sexual exploitation of children. The next day a Bartow County sheriff’s deputy found Fabrick’s body in his car.
Fabrick’s family told friends he died in a car accident in Cartersville. But Bartow County Coroner Joel Guyton told the AJC an autopsy determined Fabrick died from carbon monoxide poisoning, and there were no indications of foul play.
He was found inside his car in the Old Stilesboro Cemetery with a lit grill also inside the car, according to the sheriff’s report.
In January, a judge ordered the case closed because of Fabrick’s death.
Following his death, Fabrick’s wife asked money to be donated to the garden in lieu of flowers.
“She had absolutely no idea that there was any move to name the garden or any part of the garden in honor of Bruce,” said John Petrey, the family’s attorney.”
Petrey said Fabrick’s wife did not want to comment and that he also could not comment on the case.
Despite the public records, many PTSA members, like the school system, said they were unaware of the charges. Some in the tight-knit community said they had heard rumors but chose to continue with plans for the garden. They now plan to look more often at the county jail’s website, where Fabrick’s photo appeared for weeks as he worked in the garden.
The PTSA secretary, Thibadeau, knew of the charges against Fabrick, but decided not to mention anything for fear it would deter donations to the garden. “This is something I can do to make sure money goes to something Bruce would want to do. He would want the garden to keep going,” he said.
Three years ago, a student started the garden as her senior project. She decided to turn the kudzu and trash covered field into something that would grow food for homeless shelters and the cafeteria. Fabrick helped the student transform the lot into more than 50 plots. After the student graduated, Fabrick stuck around and helped Decatur High teacher Angela Wade, PTSA members and students expand the garden, which now sells plots to residents.
Wade, who worked in the garden with Fabrick and students, said she never saw any signs of inappropriate behavior.
“I heard rumors about it, but I didn’t even investigate what that was. I was just like, this is not the person I knew,” Wade said. “I was so taken aback that I’ve turned a deaf ear to that.”
Wade said she learned about Fabrick’s criminal charges following his death.
On Tuesday afternoon, Wade and a handful of students worked in the bee hives they have built as part of the community garden. The student club, along with students enrolled in the school’s organic living class, work in the garden, learn how to make collect and grow food.
“We’re learning something out of the ordinary. I like trying new things,” said sophomore Gregg Brett, who works in the garden on weekends and is starting his own bee hive at home. Brett and the other students said they didn’t know Fabrick.
The PTSA hopes to make a decision in the next few months on how to use the money donated in Fabrick’s honor.
“I guess people have deep dark secrets and I’m so sorry this was his,” Loupe said. “He may have done bad things, but the garden was a good thing, a positive thing for the community.”
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