Seattle Schools Community Forum

From KOMO TV: Silas Potter Jr., one of the central figures in a financial scandal in Seattle Public Schools, pleaded guilty Monday to 36 counts of theft for stealing funds from a Seattle Public School District program designed to assist minority-owned businesses in receiving school district contracts.  He could get between 3 1/2 to 5 years in prison.  He is to be sentenced in late May. That leave one final co-conspirator, David Johnson, who is going to stand trial starting May 13th.   The third co-conspirator, Lorrie Kay Sorensen, pleaded guilty and is to be sentenced in June. Seems like my hunch was right - Potter had nothing that was going to mitigate or save him. I believe the district received some sum of money from insurance but not the entire $250k Potter took.  The vendors who made about $280k from questionable work may look like they are walking away unscathed but I hope the district makes note of who they are and gives pauses before hiring...

When we last left Mr. Potter, he had been extradited back to Seattle from Florida and charged, along with two others, with various counts relating to money missing from the program he ran for SPS.   Last week, he failed to show up at a scheduled hearing and his lawyer didn't know where he was.  The judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest. Yesterday he was arrested in Seattle and booked into King County jail.  The KC Prosecutor's office says he will stay there until his trial next month.  (I suspect he is considered a flight risk.) I was wondering why he was even going to trial instead of taking a plea.  (One co-conspirator did take a plea, the other is on the lam.)  I had thought that perhaps he had some tantalizing information that he was going to reveal at the trial in order to try to save himself.  But once he ran, I have to believe he has nothing to offer and simply does not want to go to jail. 

From KUOW : Former Seattle Public Schools manager Silas Potter faces 33 new felony theft charges for allegedly embezzling more than a quarter of a million dollars from the district.   King County Prosecutor's Office Deputy Chief of Staff Ian Goodhew says prosecutors brought the new charges because Potter has declined to plead guilty to the nine original felony theft charges. "Each of those counts are for additional checks that we believe were laundered through dummy companies from the Seattle Public School system for services that were not rendered or that they grossly overcharged for," Goodhew said. Hard to believe he wouldn't plead guilty given that one of his co-conspirators (Lorrie Kay Sorenson) did already.  The other co-conspirator, David A. Johnson, did not appear at the Potter hearing and a bench warrant went out for his arrest.  Potter is to be tried in Feb. (let's hope AFTER the levy elections).    He could get up to 10 years i...

From the Times : Silas Potter Jr., the central figure in the Seattle Public Schools financial scandal, was arrested during a traffic stop early Wednesday near Tampa, Fla., after he failed to appear for arraignment Tuesday on theft charges in King County Superior Court. A King County sheriff's detective who handles fugitive cases received a tip and relayed it to U.S. marshals, who found Potter, sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart said Wednesday morning. I had a feeling that since Potter was a non-violent criminal that it might hard to find him (he only pays cash and had disconnected his cell phone).  But sure enough, he got stopped on a traffic stop. He will make his first court appearance in Florida on Thursday, Kincheloe said. Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office, said prosecutors hope to learn on Thursday whether Potter will waive extradition. If Potter agrees to extradition, he could be brought to Seattle in a matter of days, Donohoe said...

I attended the arraignment this morning.  Always interesting to see how these things work. I had never seen the two co-conspirators before - Lorrie Sorenson and David A. Johnson - both appeared and both put in a plea of "not guilty."   Both Mr. Johnson and Ms. Sorenson were to be fingerprinted and processed and then released without bail. The lawyers for Johnson and Sorenson said that they needed to work together on discovery items.  Additionally, since Ms. Sorenson lives in Nevada and had to fly in for the arraignment, her lawyer asked for two months so she could make arrangements in her life before coming back for the trial. The trial date was not set (from what I could hear) because of the non-appearance of Potter.   Given the request by the lawyer for Sorenson, I would assume it would not start for a couple of months. They called Potter's name and he did not appear.   The prosecutor said they had attempted multiple times to contact Potter....

Here's are some notes from the press conference and follow-ups from it.