Monrovia – Court documents obtained by FrontPageAfrica reveals that the new Managing Director of Liberia Telecommunications Cooperation (Libtelco) was convicted for stealing IT equipment belonging to Lee County Schools in Florida, United States of America.
Report by Lennart Dodoo – [email protected]
In an Op-Ed titled “Setting the Record Straight – A Response from Dr. Darren Wilkins” written by him and published in several local dailies and online portals said though he was held for theft, it was simply because there was a procedural error in transferring the IT equipment to him for which he was called for questioning after his house was burglarized.
According to his Op-Ed, he was fined US$300 after his lawyers called for the dismissal of the case, adding that there was no admission of guilt.
“Knowing that I had made poor judgment, I settled for a misdemeanor, paid a fine of $300, and the case was closed. I never went to jail. Please note that this was not an admission of guilt, it was just a way for the case to end quickly,” he wrote.
His publication was in response to FrontPageAfrica’s report titled “Once A Thief” published on April 18, 2017 which sought to lay parallel, Darren’s criminal record in the United States and his new post as managing director of an government’s entity which previous head was also wrapped in a corruption scandal.
Though Darren in his article claimed there was no admission of guilt, court documents discovered by FPA shows that despite his not guilty plea and subsequent request for the dismissal of the case, the Libtelco chief was found guilty of petite theft – a first degree misdemeanor on September 3, 2010.
He was fined US$300 and also served a sentence.
The Judgment: “The defendant being personally before this court, accompanied by accompanied by the defendant’s attorney of the record, Frank Paul DiPlacido, and having been adjudicated guilty herein, and the court having given the defendant an opportunity to be heard and offer matter in mitigating of sentence, and to show cause why the defendant should not be provided sentence by law, and there was no cause being shown.”
“It is the sentence of the court that the defendant is hereby committed to the Sheriff of Lee County, Florida, be imprisoned for a term of two days (Lee County Jail)”.
Darren D. Wilkins took over Libtelco after its former head, Sebastian Muah disgracefully resigned. Muah left the entity when his secret investment of over US$200,000 in the Central African Republic was investigated and exposed by FrontPageAfrica.
Wilkins had worked in various capacities in the ICT sector for the government, including Ministry of Post and Telecommunications.
He led the innovation department of Libtelco.
He was later appointed to act as Chief Technology Officer/Deputy Managing Director of Technical Services by the Board of Directors and was eventually appointed through a resolution by the board of directors to head the cooperation.
According to him, he informed the then head of the civil service George Werner of his record in the USA before entering government.
Yet, he was quietly appointed by the board of directors to head a cooperation that had been wrecked by corruption.
Being an employee of Lee County schools (in the capacity of Tech Specialist) in Florida, Wilkins stole computers and other pieces of IT equipment summing up an estimated amount of US$50,000.
He was booked when his house in Florida (1311 James Avenue,) was being burglarized and a neighbor called law enforcement officers to report the burglary in progress.
The neighbor told sheriffs that people were removing items from the house and putting them in a vehicle. Deputies stopped the vehicle a short distance away from the house.
Inside, they found the items the neighbor described seeing taken. Wilkins was reportedly contacted and allegedly said the items were his. Sheriffs arrested Isaiah Powell, 17, Andre Taylor, 17, and William Ruse, 15, for burglary and grand theft at Wilkins.
As investigators were going through the items in the vehicle, it was observed that a lot of the items seemed to be items from the school district.
They learned the items had been taken from two different schools, and that information was enough to get a search warrant for Wilkins’ home.
There, sheriffs reportedly found 107 pieces of computer and electronics equipment taken from the school district – including some items that were brand new and still in their boxes.
One item found was an industrial network router worth $10,000. The stolen equipment cost over US$50,000, FrontPageAfrica gathered.