N&R coverage; prosecutors drop charges against former UNCG employees Chris English, David Wilson and Lyda Carpen.
Assistant Guilford County District Attorney Howard Neumann said:
what happened in court Thursday isn’t a sign that prosecutors had weak evidence. He said there was probable cause to charge Carpen, English and Wilson.
His office routinely sees similar charges brought about by other employers, Neumann said. “We handle them in a similar fashion,” he said.Neumann also provided more details about the freelance work English and Wilson allegedly did on UNCG’s time.
Evidence showed that English and Wilson operated their private photography business, Artisan Images, from their offices at UNCG, Neumann said. The university’s Information Technology department found on English and Wilson’s computers thousands of freelance photographs shot with UNCG cameras. The photographers also used UNCG computers to send invoices to their clients, he said,
The criminal charges focused on the time sheet issues, he said, “because there’s not a crime that covers this type of misuse of state property.”
Now the three employees will appeal their dismissal, a process that could ultimately result in a public trial, according to Carpen’s attorney Seth Cohen. But Cohen made it clear that UNCG officials –especially Chancellor Linda Brady and Associate Chancellor Paul Mason –might not want to go there.
