Warwick school administrators were put on the trail of items the department had paid for, but were missing when buildings and grounds director David LaPlante went on vacation several weeks …
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Warwick school administrators were put on the trail of items the department had paid for, but were missing when buildings and grounds director David LaPlante went on vacation several weeks ago.
What the administration uncovered led to LaPlante’s dismissal by the School Committee on Dec. 9, and a police investigation that has included the removal of an unspecified number for items from his home, although as of Wednesday, no charges have been filed against him.
The department hired LaPlante 10 years ago as energy supervisor, a post he held until the job was eliminated. He stayed in the building department and was named director three years ago. He was paid $100,913.
“He went on vacation and we had to reconcile a few bills,” Superintendent Philip Thornton said Tuesday.
When the department couldn’t locate several items, which have remained unidentified as of this point, it initiated an internal investigation. Some of the items were described as being consistent with what the department buys, while others were not. Thornton then brought the matter to the attention of police.
Since police have become involved, Thornton said some of the items have been located, but police are still in the process of “matching this serial number with that widget.”
According to school chief budget officer Anthony Ferrucci, LaPlante not only ordered items but also had a practice of picking them up from the vendor and delivering them to a work site so as not to have crews leave a job.
“David has a long tenure here. He took advantage of it, and he kept them on a job and he would do the pickups so they could keep working,” Ferrucci said.
“Some items never made it to the work site,” Ferrucci said.
Asked if this didn’t require additional orders, Ferrucci said some jobs were never finished, meaning the materials were never delivered. He also said it appears there were orders for jobs that didn’t exist.
Ferrucci said he has gone back 18 months and believes the practice may have been “going on for years.”
Thornton wants to dig deeper and will ask for the School Committee at its next meeting for the authority to conduct a forensic audit of the department’s purchases. The extent of the audit, in terms of the number of years and what it would include, has not been finalized and would have a bearing on its cost. Thornton, however, wants a set of outside eyes going over the books rather than conducting an internal examination.
Going forward, he is putting in place a system of layers of approvals so that no one single individual is responsible for issuing a purchase order, placing the order, and then taking delivery from the vendor. Unlike the city, where any purchase of $1,000 or more requires City Council approval, the threshold of a “public award” requiring School Committee approval is $5,000 or more.
Thornton and Ferrucci haven’t talked of lowering the $5,000 mark. They are focused on implementing a totally electronic work order system using a program called SchoolDude, which provides the ability to track every order. Ferrucci estimated the department is using 40 vendors. Thus far, he said, the department has discovered inconsistencies and can’t account for purchases from two or three vendors.
“No one person can do all the things,” Thornton said of the plan now in place.
Thus far, police have executed two search warrants of the LaPlante home. According to reports received by the Beacon, a quantity of items have been removed from the property.
Ferrucci said there is no evidence that others are involved, and should LaPlante be charged that “it is so blatant that I think the case is going to be prosecuted quickly.”
8 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
warwick10
$100,000 salary AND stealing! Greed!
Thursday, December 17, 2015 Report this
falina
Imagine if the same type of forensic audit was done at the state level!, say, of the General Assembly?
Thursday, December 17, 2015 Report this
knowthetruth4
The fact this may have been happening for years is a disgrace. Great job school committee, you have been cutting checks and never checking to see if the work is being done. You expect us to trust you during the consolidation process?
Friday, December 18, 2015 Report this
JohnStark
The notion that a school department employee was allegedly stealing from taxpayers, and has been doing so for years, is not news. What IS news is that a superintendent is asking for an outside set of eyes and forensic audit. Big, big kudos from this frequent critic of the school dept.
Friday, December 18, 2015 Report this
Thecaptain
Even more interesting and disturbing is the fact that now after the crook is fired, he just rolls onto his wife's healthcare plan who also works for the school department as a teacher. But I'm sure she knew absolutely nothing about the stolen items in the home that she lives in.
Saturday, December 19, 2015 Report this
Madisonandgail
Doesn't seem like to many people are upset with people stealing from children. I guess its happened so long people are now ok with it. Warwick is such a sad place no one pissed and speaking out.
Sunday, December 20, 2015 Report this
Justanidiot
David LaPlante was easy pickins. The new super was looking for someone easy to run out of Dodge to show that he means business.
When he starts firing incompetent teachers who have been mailing it in for YEARS, then he will really start reforming the schools.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015 Report this
RonPaul
I must admit, the union is the bigger issue. Now lets fire the teachers. They are the worst in the state
Tuesday, December 22, 2015 Report this