The founder of a publicly funded District school for mentally disabled children was convicted Thursday of plotting to steal top-of-the-line computers — some of which went to his school.
A federal jury took barely five hours to convict Charles Emor of conspiracy to commit mail fraud for his role in the theft of computers from the Gateway Computers plant in Hampton, Va.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Roy Austin alleged during the four-day trial that Emor, 46, conspired with former D.C. child welfare official Orlando Marshall and at least four others to steal the computers and resell them.
Emor’s co-defendants already have accepted plea agreements.
Marshall introduced Emor to Dwayne Simmons, who worked as a shipping clerk at the Hampton factory, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, Simmons diverted the computers — either directly to customers that Marshall had lined up or to Marshall’s home.
Up to 40 of those computers went to SunRise Academy, a private school that Emor founded in 1999. Academy officials testified at Emor’s trial that all of those computers broke down and couldn’t be fixed.
The SunRise Academy is private, but more than 99 percent of its funding comes from the Department of Education.
About 160 students go to the academy, principal Makini Niliwaambieni said.
All of the students are sent over from the D.C. public schools because D.C. can’t accommodate most of its disabled students.
The academy had a budget of about $3.5 million last year, Niliwaambieni said.
Before the verdict came down, Niliwaambieni said “we do feel very much that we are victims.” She refused comment when asked what happened to the computers.
Niliwaambieni directed most of her anger at Gateway, which she said was picking on her struggling school by trying to recover the computers.
“We’re trying to run a program for inner-city youth,” she said. “This giant corporation didn’t do what they should have done to secure the property. The only thing we can do is go find a lawyer.”
Emor showed no emotion as the jury foreman read the verdict Thursday. He will be sentenced March 16.
