Will Silas Potter have his day in Court?
The Seattle Times is reporting that King County prosecutors plan to file first degree felony theft charges against Silas Potter Jr. for his role in the recent school district financial scandal. Others may be charged as well.
Mr. Potter has said that he was scapegoated and that people further up the org chart knew about everything he was doing. Given a chance in Court he might provide details about who knew about his activities.
Mr. Potter has said that he was scapegoated and that people further up the org chart knew about everything he was doing. Given a chance in Court he might provide details about who knew about his activities.
Comments
The investigation took so long because the KC Prosecutor's office had to go through several bank files by hand (and apparently the banks took their time getting all this data to their office). I agree with the comment at the Times that said better to do a slow, thorough job than a quick, sloppy one.
Sadly, this won't get straightened out until after the election. But anyone wondering about the role of the Board should know this certainly will stand an almost complete lack of oversight by the Board and in particular, Peter Maier.
Do NOT miss Ricky Malone's analysis of the Silas Potter affair done in Testimony before the Seattle School Board on March 2, 2011 .... on MGJ's $274,000 Buyout day.
Culture of School Board Failure
He can't just use his word against others. He would need credible proof in order to get a deal. Silas doesn't strike me as a particularly organized guy so I don't know. It is hard to believe he did all this on his own.
For two years both the COO, the Superintendent and the Board saw the budget and approved the budget that had Potter's budget climb from $100k to $1M. You'd think that would have caught someone's eye.
I hope there are some nervous folks out there worried about what Silas might have to say.
The Times article mentions that an SPD detective went to Florida to interview Silas. You do not have to be arrested to be interviewed by the police, and you don't have to be arrested to have your Miranda rights read to you. The Detective most likely Mirandized Potter before speaking with him. And, we can't tell from the article but the Detective(s) probably questioned him several times.
I'm not an attorney, but I believe that for him to get any kind of deal they would first have to charge him with something, otherwise they would not have leverage on him. Unless they found a true smoking gun piece of evidence. Maybe he already sang for them; thus the mystery people that the article referred to.