Lopez also serves on the board of directors for the Tri-Community Coalition, which works to prevent substance abuse.
For more information about kids and guns, go to http://www.millionmommarch.org
Monday, December 1, 2008 8:21 AM EST
FERNDALE – A retired Oak Park educator and member of a
nonprofit community drug prevention group face a court hearing this week on
charges she and her son fraudulently enrolled a boy who brought a loaded handgun
to Ferndale’s Roosevelt Elementary School.
Donna Lopez, 59, of Oak Park and her son, Ray Coleman, 27, of Detroit were
arraigned Nov. 21 in Ferndale 43rd District Court. They are free on personal
bond and face a preliminary examination at 1 p.m. Thursday.
The mother and son were each charged after police say they used false
documentation to illegally enroll a boy, 6, at Roosevelt school.
Lopez, who once worked as a counselor for Oak Park schools, serves on the board
of directors for the Tri-Community Coalition. The coalition serves Oak Park,
Huntington Woods and Berkley and works to prevent substance abuse.
“She has been a law-abiding citizen her entire life and has a perfectly clean record,” said Lopez’s lawyer, Mark Nortley. “She has a master’s degree and is a retired educator. She is absolutely devastated by the charges.”
The boy was removed from the school after he brought a loaded handgun to class Sept. 11 to show to his classmates, police said. A student the boy showed the gun to told a teacher, who confiscated the gun and alerted officials.
The boy was living with Coleman in Detroit and police said
Coleman left the handgun where the boy was able to get it. Coleman is
additionally charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a
misdemeanor.
Police said Coleman was caring for the boy and is a friend of the boy’s mother.
“There were some problems with the boy’s parents and Mr. Coleman temporarily
took responsibility for the boy as an act of kindness,” Nortley said.
Ferndale police said they have not had contact with the boy’s mother.
Ferndale public schools do not accept students who live outside of Oakland County. “There are different reasons for residency requirements at the schools,” Ferndale Police Lt. William Wilson said. “In the past we have found that when we did not strictly enforce the residency requirements we saw a greater criminal element in the schools than we should have.”
Regardless of the boy’s intent in bringing the gun to school, it was a potentially dangerous criminal act that put the lives of students and staff in jeopardy, Wilson said.
Lopez and her son provided false information on school admission documents, including false information on the boy’s residency and who was responsible for his legal guardianship, police said. The felony charges of uttering and publishing against Lopez and Coleman are punishable by up to 14 years in prison.Wilson said Ferndale police now routinely investigate the residency of students suspected of any criminal acts in the city’s schools.
For more information about kids and guns, see http://www.millionmommarch.org
Two adults charged in Roosevelt gun incident
By Jeremy Selweski
C & G News Staff Writer
FERNDALE — Two adults are facing charges in the case of the Roosevelt Primary School first-grader who brought a loaded handgun to school in September.
According to Detective Lt. Bill Wilson, Ray Coleman, 27, of Detroit and his mother, Donna Lopez, 59, of Oak Park are accused of uttering and publishing, a 14-year felony. Coleman is also charged with a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor by leaving the gun in a place where the boy was able to get it.
The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office has issued fraud warrants against both suspects for submitting false documents to Ferndale Public Schools in an attempt to enroll the 6-year-old student in the district. The documents stated that the boy lived at Lopez’s address in Oak ark when he was actually staying with Coleman in Detroit, which is likely where he acquired the gun, Wilson said.
However, neither Coleman nor Lopez are members of the boy’s family. “There is no relationship between the child and either of the suspects,” Wilson said. “(Coleman) is an acquaintance of the mother of the child, but he is not the father.”
Wilson added that the student has no contact with his mother and that police have no information about his father.
On Sept. 11, the boy was pulled from school after he brought a loaded, .25-caliber automatic weapon to his first-grade classroom and showed it to one of his classmates. Although the gun was loaded, Ferndale officers indicated that it would have been very difficult for the young child to figure out how to fire it.
Following the incident, school officials removed the boy from Roosevelt while police continued their investigation. Once it was discovered that the school records had been falsified and that the student was attending the school illegally, he was dismissed permanently.
Ferndale Public Schools consists of students from Pleasant Ridge, most of Ferndale and parts of Oak Park and Royal Oak Township. In addition, any student who lives in Oakland County can enroll in the district through the statewide Schools of Choice system, though only on a limited basis. With the exception of the district’s University High School, however, students from outside the county cannot attend school in Ferndale.
Wilson pointed out that this case is not the first time charges have been brought against adults for illegally enrolling students in the district, but that it is the first time that the adults involved are not relatives of the student.
“In 2003 and 2004,” he said, “the district faced several instances of illegally enrolled students from Wayne County committing serious crimes while attending Ferndale Schools,” including breaking and entering, vehicle theft and weapons offenses. “It turned out to be a common theme … so we tried to send a message.
“In an effort to attack the source of the crimes, police investigated and prosecuted parents for illegally enrolling their children into the school district. The successful prior convictions seemed to alleviate crime in the schools. … Since then, the Ferndale Police Department and Ferndale school district have been working to prevent the illegal enrollments.”
As an example, Ferndale Schools spokesperson Stephanie Hall cited the 2004 case of mother Tiffany Goode, a Detroit resident at the time.
Gooden, now 37, illegally changed her address on her driver’s license and other documents filed with the district and Secretary of State in order to enroll her 14-year-old daughter at Ferndale High School in 2002.
Ferndale police learned of the illegal enrollment while investigating Gooden’s daughter for her involvement with the theft of an FHS teacher’s car and money. Then, in October 2004, Gooden pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud for lying about her address, including a felony charge of uttering and publishing.
Although Ferndale police do not typically become involved in matters of school enrollment, Hall said that when they do, police officers and district officials try to work together.
“The most important thing is that we don’t condone the falsification of documents, and we do everything we can to comply with state law,” Hall explained. “We work in cooperation with the police on these issues. When a situation takes place, we take the action necessary to prevent illegal enrollments.”
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