A Wayne Circuit Court judge Thursday said a contract Detroit Public Schools had with a businessman for security equipment may have been a “fraud from the beginning.”
The contractor, MetroTech, earned a $300,000 contract with the school district for installing security cameras and other equipment under an assumed name, using a P.O. Box as an address and without a background check from the district.
Steve Pittman started MetroTech under the assumed name Jim Branch and has failed to pay his subcontractor $98,500 for his work in installing and repairing cameras in the schools, according to a suit filed in Wayne Circuit Court.
The subcontractor, Mark Monarch, won a legal battle Thursday in his effort to collect when Judge Michael Sapala granted his request for a preliminary injunction. The request bars the school district from paying MetroTech, essentially freezing the money to ensure “the right guy gets paid,” according to Monarch’s attorney, Robert Young.
Pittman was supposed to show up in court but failed to appear. In granting Monarch’s motion, Sapala acknowledged Pittman appears to be “intentionally evading” the court and his contract with DPS may have been a “fraud from the beginning.”
Monarch, owner of Abel Electronics, and his attorney allege Pittman intended fraud from the start, and it wasn’t caught until after DPS awarded the contract to the company and access to its security systems.
“You take a step back and you say this just doesn’t pass the smell test,” Young said.
Tim Gardner, attorney for the district, says the preliminary injunction stops DPS from making any payments to MetroTech for 28 days.
District officials have acknowledged they didn’t conduct a background check on MetroTech.
Pittman “created this ruse, we think, from the beginning,” Young said. “… And then at the end, when you are left with a $98,500 bill, then you are nowhere to be found.”
Source:The Detroit News/ Marisa Schultz
