The former president of the PTA Council of Baltimore County, who resigned as Maryland PTA president-elect March 31, was charged Friday with making arson threats and malicious destruction.
The allegations, made in the District Court of Baltimore County, were made by a female former PTA Council member, who also was granted a temporary restraining order.
Michael Franklin, of Randallstown, was PTA Council of Baltimore County president for four years before his term expired last July.
Franklin was charged Friday with threatening arson in phone calls and malicious destruction of property exceeding $500 in damages. Both charges could result in fines or imprisonment if Franklin is found guilty.
Roxanne Umphrey-Lucas, no longer a PTA Council member but still active on various boards within the county school system, alleges Franklin slashed her car tires and made threatening phone calls to her home. She said her family purchased surveillance equipment a year ago after her house was spray-painted and her tires were slashed several times.
Umphrey-Lucas said she turned a videotape over to Baltimore County police.
According to the restraining order documents, Umphrey-Lucas also has filed a formal complaint with the U.S Postal Service, alleging Franklin was behind an effort to illegally divert her mail. Umphrey-Lucas alleges in the documents that Franklin was stalking her and posed a serious bodily threat to her or her family. Franklin is not allowed to visit the two Baltimore County schools his children attend.
A hearing for a permanent restraining order is scheduled for Friday morning in the Towson courthouse. Umphrey-Lucas, a marketing and public relations manager at a local museum, said problems began with Franklin after both traveled as state delegates to a national PTA convention two years ago. She said she filed a harassment complaint with the Maryland PTA at that time.
Maryland PTA President Mary Jo Neil said she would neither confirm nor deny that a complaint had been filed, as a matter of personnel policy.
Susan Katz, the new Baltimore County PTA president, said she had a “good professional” relationship with Franklin while he served as president. She said accusations about Franklin?s behavior had surfaced before to the PTA Council, but that a special committee appointed to look into the allegations ultimately decided last year to allow Franklin to finish his term.
Franklin did not return a phone call Wednesday to his home, but his wife, Lelica Franklin, the current PTA Council of Baltimore County treasurer, said she was unaware of the charges.
In May, an investigation by The Examiner found Franklin and his wife have had several complaints ? civil and criminal ? filed against them in the past decade.
In 1996, Lelica Franklin was charged with passing a bad check, court documents show, though the case was not prosecuted.
In 2001, the Pikeswood Village Homeowners Association won a judgment against the couple for $987 that was settled in 2002. A 2001 judgment of $1,436 awarded to Carrolltown Bank against Lelica Franklin is not listed as settled. Another judgment against the Franklins in 1997 for $1,586 was awarded to Novus Services of Hilliard, Ohio, and according to May court records had not been settled.
In a criminal complaint filed on Nov. 25, 2002, Lelica Franklin accused her husband of domestic violence, but the case was not pursued.
