A former chief operating officer of the DeKalb County School District and her architect husband are suspected of stealing thousands of dollars from taxpayers with the help of then-superintendent Crawford Lewis, according to a new indictment.
The updated indictment released last week says former school district construction chief Pat Reid did what she could to bloat existing design contracts with then-husband Tony Pope and to steer new ones to him, and Lewis signed off on everything, then did what he could to block the ensuing investigation.
What started as a probe into Lewis' use of a school system charge card for vacations to the Bahamas ballooned into a complicated racketeering case. It's laid out in 132 pages based on more than 80 boxes of documents.
The new indictment updates a 2-year-old one that charged Reid, Pope and Lewis with racketeering, theft, bribery and other crimes. The indictment accuses Reid and Pope of pocketing taxpayer funds allocated to four school construction and renovation projects. The indictment is unclear what Lewis gained in total. Under the bribery charges it lists tickets to the 2008 and 2009 Masters golf tournament costing almost $39,000, tickets to the Atlanta mayor's ball valued at $5,000 and two dozen Atlanta Hawks box seat tickets in 2009. The indictment says the tickets were given by various construction companies.
Reid also demanded tickets to Atlanta Falcons football games, the Final Four Basketball Tournament, Masters Golf Tournaments and shows at the Fox Theatre, according to the indictment.
Reid was the first defendant listed on the old indictment brought by former District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming, but Lewis was the first of the three to be listed on the new one.
"There is more of a focus on his activity," current DA Robert James said Tuesday. "It enhances the alleged role of Dr. Lewis."
Lewis' attorney didn't respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment this week but the former school superintendent has previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A fourth defendant in the original indictment, Cointa Moody, is no longer charged and is expected to testify for the prosecution, James said.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are scheduled for court Monday to discuss deadlines and the trial schedule. Defense attorney Tony Axum, who represents Reid, said the case probably won't get before a jury until next year.
Pat Reid, who changed her last name from Pope after she and Tony Pope divorced, expects to be cleared, Axum said.
A DeKalb Superior Court jury will have to review emails, construction contracts, change orders, competitive bid documents and investigators' interviews to decide if it all adds up to a criminal operation. The allegations surround millions of dollars in contracted design and construction work at Columbia High School, McNair Cluster Elementary, Arabia Mountain High School and the Mountain Industrial Center, which includes the new school administrative offices.
The indictment charges each defendant with four counts of violation of the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act, one for each construction project. RICO cases are complicated, and more often brought by federal prosecutors than county district attorneys.
"It's very uncommon," said defense attorney Jack Martin, who is not connected to this case.
More and more, though, district attorneys are using it in public corruption prosecutions, he added.
RICO convictions bring substantial prison time, up to 20 years, for each charge. RICO laws were intended to destroy organized crime rings and seize their assets.
The RICO case grew from an investigation of Lewis' use of a school system charge card for vacations. During an interview in late 2008 with a district attorney's investigator, Lewis said the district attorney didn't "need to be investigating him," but should instead look at Reid for hiring her husband and giving him contracts he was ineligible to receive
The details laid out in the new indictment suggest increasing greed that stretched from October 2005, the year Lewis became superintendent, until May 2010, when the original indictment was returned.
The revised, or superseding, indictment returned on Tuesday focuses primarily on Reid and instances where she allegedly manipulated the system and her authority to send design and construction contracts to her then-husband's business, V. Anthony Pope & Associates, or to businesses with which he was secretly working -- and to her friends. Pope wasn't supposed to be getting school district work after his wife took over as the construction chief.
While Lewis appeared to be in more of a supporting role to Reid, the indictment said Lewis signed off on the contracts and payments that Reid approved.
Lewis "abused his position for his own personal gain and the benefit of his friends [and] his family," and he covered up waste, abuse and corruption in the school system he headed, the DeKalb County school system, the indictment said.
"Rather than operating in the best interest of DeKalb County’s children, Crawford Lewis, Pat [Reid] and Tony Pope stole or facilitated the theft of millions of dollars, performed or approved payment for substandard work, blocked legitimate contractors from receiving or completing contracts and manipulated projects to meet their own unlawful objectives," the indictment says.
Among the allegations:
-- Reid lied to the schools system's board and to the state Department of Education about contracts and spending.
-- All three went to great lengths to hide Pope's involvement in projects he was prohibited from doing because of his then-wife's management role with the district.
-- Lewis lied to investigators looking into his use of a school districts charge card on vacations to the Bahamas and to Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee.
-- Lewis tried to stop the investigation. He assigned Reid to provide records the district attorney's office wanted. He told associates that Reid was trying to blackmail him, but denied she had done so when investigators asked about it.
-- Pope destroyed school construction records bearing his architectural stamp so investigators wouldn't discover his role in the projects.
-- Lewis lied about the circumstances around his purchase of a county car. The indictment said he billed the county for repairs and improvements before he took possession even though county policy is that vehicles are sold "as is."
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