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School mentor one of 28 drug ring suspects
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
One of the people charged last month in a federal drug indictment mentored children at a city elementary school.
Shawntel Patton, 39, of Poland, is one of 28 people accused by federal authorities of participating in a drug ring that had ties to Mexican drug cartels. Federal authorities said the ring trafficked in cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana.
Patton, who has a 2004 federal conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, mentored students at William Holmes McGuffey Elementary School. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison in 2004.
Karen Ingraham, school district communications director, said in an email that Patton was not a district employee. He worked for an organization called C.A.R.E. — Children Are Reunited Everyday Inc. He started in early February.
C.A.R.E., which has a post-office box in Youngstown, told the district that a background check was conducted, and “the principal was informed by C.A.R.E. that Patton had nothing in his background that would disqualify him from working with children,” the email said. “The principal did receive a copy of a background check prior to his working at the school.”
The school district’s central office didn’t have information about Patton’s work at McGuffey, and the district didn’t conduct a background check of him, Ingraham said in the email.
Antonio Page, one of C.A.R.E.’s founders, said he conducted a background check of Patton using a website for background checks. The drug conviction didn’t come up, and Patton, who played football with Page’s brother, didn’t disclose it.
Page said the check did show a misdemeanor theft by deception charge in the 1990s, but Patton was convicted of attempted forgery in that case. Page wouldn’t say whether he’d told that to the school district.
Patton was terminated from C.A.R.E. when Page found out about the latest arrest, he said.
Page said C.A.R.E.’s mentoring at McGuffey has stopped “by mutual agreement,” and it was in the “best interests of both parties” because of “the unfortunate incident with Mr. Patton.”
Patton is being detained pending his trial, court records show.
C.A.R.E. was paid $8,800 in McGuffey grant money — $7,800 for salary and wages and $500 each for training and supplies.
He said C.A.R.E. will repay $5,500 of the money to the school. The remainder already has been paid in salaries, he said.
“During the brief time that Mr. Patton was a mentor at the school, he definitely did good work,” Page said. He said the children were showing improvement.
“He was doing a good deed for these kids,” Page said. “It was just an unfortunate situation with him and the law, and there was nothing we could do about it.”
Patton, who was a running back on Youngstown State University’s 1994 national championship team, had run-ins with the law predating his 2004 drug conviction.
In 1991, he was charged with felonious sexual penetration of a YSU female at a bar. He was cleared of that charge in 1992.
In 1999, he pleaded guilty to forgery in Trumbull County and was sentenced to six months in an alternative program.
C.A.R.E.’s other founder, Randy Smith, said he is no longer affiliated with the organization.
Ingraham said that C.A.R.E. was selected after the school principal looked at the program components, comparing that to students’ needs.
“She felt the proposal covered some of the social-emotional needs of the kids,” the spokeswoman said in an email.
According to information about C.A.R.E. provided to the school district, the organization “provides opportunities during the school day for children to develop appropriate social skills while integrating these skills into the core academic curriculum.”
It lists measurable outcomes of the program as improved school attendance and academic performance, reduction in at-risk behaviors, improved decision-making skills, positive communication skills and an increase in personal and social confidence.