Items stolen from closed school used to equip Lee County day care facility

ALBANY — Five people in the Dougherty County School System’s custodial division have been disciplined over theft of property from the closed Sylvester Road School, DCSS Assistant Superintendent of Support Services Jack Willis said Tuesday.

Some of the purloined items were used to equip a day care facility in Lee County, school officials contend.

According to Willis, Marvin Russ, Latonya Davis, Essie Sindy, and Westover High School head custodian Marilyn Bush-Milledge were given administrative discipline, while custodian district supervisor Barbara McClenton was terminated.

None of the five has been formally charged by the Dougherty County School System Police Department, but Willis would not rule out charges being filed later.

The five are accused of taking items ranging from computer Leap Pads to student desks, chairs and a refrigerator from the vacant school, which was closed in 2013.

According the summary prepared by the school system’s law enforcement unit, “our office was contacted by the Albany Police Department to respond to an address in the community in reference to a search warrant being issued. APD investigators reported they had found items that belonged to our school system.”

That revelation sparked an internal theft investigation of items taken from the vacant school. During the course of that investigation it was revealed that some custodians were responsible for taking items from the school.

“It was also revealed that a custodian district manager collaborated with the head custodian at Westover High School to take several items from Sylvester Road for the purpose of furnishing and equipping a day care center in Leesburg, Ga.,” the report added.

“We can’t tell you exactly what was taken from the building or how long it has been going on — it probably started right after the school was closed,” Willis said. “But we do know after some school system property was traced to the Lee County day care, $2,700 in restitution was paid.”