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  1. #1
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    Authorities accuse Principal of faking MS-13 gang attack

    http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/ ... 714457.htm

    Accused principal refuses plea deal

    Ex-Waddell chief maintains he was attacked, didn't fake story

    GARY L. WRIGHT

    Staff Writer


    Former Waddell High School Principal Michael Faulkner, accused of lying about being attacked on school grounds more than a year ago, isn't interested in a deal from prosecutors even if it would keep him from spending any time behind bars.

    Faulkner, who has called the charge against him "absurd," has no intentions of pleading guilty to felony obstruction of justice. He's expected to enter a not guilty plea Wednesday at his arraignment in Mecklenburg Superior Court.

    "You better believe I'm going to plead not guilty," Faulkner, 45, told the Observer.

    "I am absolutely innocent. I am clearly a victim. I'm not going to make any deals with prosecutors other than for them to dismiss this charge outright."

    Had he accepted prosecutors' offer, Faulkner could have been placed on probation. Now he'll take his chances with a judge and jury and if convicted, he could face up to six or eight months in prison.

    Defense attorney Reid James told the Observer Faulkner will not plead guilty to a crime he didn't commit.

    "My client doesn't intend to plead guilty because he's not guilty," James said. "The state must figure he beat himself up and broke his back and ribs and screwed himself out of a job because he likes pain."

    On Nov. 17, 2003, Waddell staff members found Faulkner lying on an athletic field after he failed to report to his office. They said he looked as if he'd been beaten.

    Faulkner told police he was doing rounds on campus when he spotted three young Latino men spray-painting the number "13" -- a common insignia for Latino gangs -- on some bricks at the southwest Charlotte school. He said he confronted them.

    He told police he was hit on the head with a blunt object and dragged 500 yards to a softball field dugout, where his assailants kicked, stabbed and punched him.

    But authorities don't believe Faulkner. And in January, a Mecklenburg grand jury indicted him on the felony charge.

    At the time of the alleged attack, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials were investigating claims that Faulkner plagiarized articles he e-mailed to staff.

    The day after the assault was reported, the Observer discovered discrepancies on a document detailing Faulkner's work history, which CMS officials said was based on the résumé he supplied when he applied for the Waddell post. The document said Faulkner earned a doctorate of counseling from the University of Notre Dame in 1999, but officials there said he did not.

    Faulkner has said he did not misrepresent anything on his résumé or claim others' work as his own.

    Faulkner, in his second year as Waddell's principal, resigned a month after the reported assault. He said he quit because he thought he was going to be fired. He said he was being made a scapegoat because CMS did not want to acknowledge the level of gang activity at the high school.

    If Faulkner pleads not guilty Wednesday as expected, a trial date will be set.

    James said Faulkner is aware of the risks of going to trial.

    "Dr. Faulkner is willing to take that risk, and always has been," the defense lawyer said. "He's not guilty. He's a man of principle and he says, `I didn't do anything. I'm the victim. Now, I'm being further victimized by the state.' "

    Faulkner's trial will present a challenge for prosecutors. Normally they have to produce evidence a defendant did commit a crime. This time they have to prove something didn't happen.

    That, the defense lawyer predicts, will be difficult.

    James has said Faulkner suffered broken ribs and a ruptured disk in the attack and has had to have back surgery. He said he's provided prosecutors with medical records documenting those injuries.

    "Prosecutors have got plenty of evidence that supports that Dr. Faulkner suffered substantial injuries," James said. "But they say it didn't happen. They will have to prove that Dr. Faulkner reported that this happened but that it didn't really happen.

    "I don't see how they're going to do that. I'll consider it a learning experience for me to see how they prove a negative."

    Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Steve Ward wouldn't talk about the evidence police compiled in their investigation into Faulkner's report that he'd been attacked.

    But Ward said he tried to cut a deal with Faulkner during a telephone conversation with James.

    The prosecutor said James cut him off before he could explain the offer and urged him instead to dismiss the charge against Faulkner. Ward recalled the defense lawyer then telling him that Faulkner is innocent and would plead not guilty.

    Ward said his deal would have called for Faulkner to plead guilty to felony obstruction of justice but the state would recommend the former principal be placed on probation.

    Faulkner said he's confident he'll be acquitted.

    "I don't see how any jury, after they hear what I have to say, will convict me," Faulkner said.

    James said he doesn't believe Faulkner has anything to gain in a deal with prosecutors.

    "I don't see prosecutors getting a conviction in this case," James said. "And even if they get a conviction, I don't see a judge sending my client to prison. No judge is going to send him to prison."
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    "I don't see prosecutors getting a conviction in this case," James said. "And even if they get a conviction, I don't see a judge sending my client to prison. No judge is going to send him to prison."
    I don't either. Please keep us informed on the proceedings.

    OUTRAGEOUS
    FAR BEYOND DRIVEN

  3. #3
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    What does the principal's education or work history have to do with his having been "beaten up" on school property by "someone"???

    Why would they try to discredit him and now prosecute him?

    We already know MS-13 Gangs are in Charlotte!! They are everywhere!

    I had SUR-13 painted on my building here in Eastern North Carolina 3 or 4 years ago!! It's red brick and was very difficult to get off.

    Did anyone look for the 13 on the buildings or just go straight to his personnel file to try and discredit him?

    OUTRAGEOUS!!

    BTW: Now is a little late to be checking with Notre Dame....isn't that something a school verifies BEFORE you hire the principal?

    He may have faked his degrees....that has become very COMMON in the US because NO ONE CHECKS anything anymore. While that should certainly get him dismissed, that shouldn't get him prosecuted for "obstruction of justice"? Who is the prosecutor trying to protect? The illegal alien gangs?

    This story is just too bizarre for words!!

    GREAT POST WILLIAM!!

    Maybe this is a plot to set a precedent that if you get attacked by an MS-13 gang and LIVE TO TELL IT, DON'T....you might be obstructing justice and be sent to prison for LIVING.

    UNBELIEVABLE!!
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    JUDY wrote
    What does the principal's education or work history have to do with his having been "beaten up" on school property by "someone"???
    This is exactly what I just thought as I was reading this. One has nothing to do with the other, therefore, there's an agenda not visible on the surface.
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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    My thought too 2ndamendsis--what could it be?

    Theoretically speaking, lets say, there is an MS-13 Gang at the school. They are in Charlotte and I'm sure in all the schools....their choice prey.

    Lets say they are running drugs, making sales to the students.

    Lets say in order to run the drugs at school, they need protection from certain school authorities.

    Lets say to get that, they share some of the take with someone involved in the administration of the school.

    Lets say that this incident now reported by the Principal reveals:

    1) MS-13 Gang Activity in the School

    2) Leading to Discovery that MS-13 Gangs are dealing dope to the students

    3) Further inquiry into the drug running could lead to exposes of the officials involved in dope dealing to students

    4) Authorities now forced to arrest and prosecute the official

    5) MS-13 Gang members would be turned in by the official in a plea bargain

    6) MS-13 Gang members put the word to the official to shut this inquiry down and if they don't, they'll rape, murder, mutilate the official's family

    7) Official scared out of his shoes concocts a fabrication story on the principal.....to discredit him and colludes with the district attorney's office, a friend or associate, to nip it in the bud with "obstruction of justice" charges against the principal so they can send the principal to prison, so he can be taken out by gang members in the system.

    WILD TALE or PLAUSIBLE SCENARIO for the otherwise inexplicable.

    You be the Judge.

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