NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Holton Smith, a permanent/hourly school district employee assigned to the night shift at New Rochelle High School, was arrested on September 20th, 2018. Smith was charged with three misdemeanor counts: Assault Third with Intent to Cause Physical Injury, Unlawful Possession of Noxious Matter and Endangering the Welfare of a Child.
According to a source with knowledge of the incident, Smith was involved in a physical altercation in his home, sprayed mace and did so in the presence of a young child.
“The case was disposed of in the New Rochelle City Court and sealed,” said Helen Jonsen, spokesperson for the Westchester County District Attorney’s office. No further information on the disposition of the case is available.
Subsequently Smith was pulled over by New Rochelle police for running a red light near New Rochelle High School. Police detected the odor of marijuana in the vehicle and upon a search police found a small amount of marijuana. Smith was issued a violation. The stop and search took place on or near school grounds (there are two versions of this part of the story and police records are not specific on this point).
On an unrelated note, Doug LePore, the night Custodian/Supervisor chose to retire. He filed his retirement papers on January 22nd.
Smith was ultimately cleared to return to work by Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Joe Williams. His regular shift was reassigned so he is on standby to be assigned hours. Sources familiar with the matter tell Talk of the Sound Smith is unlikely to be assigned hours in the future.
The effective termination of Smith and the retirement of LePore bring to six the total of night shift employees separated or in the process of being separated from employment with the New Rochelle Board of Education over the past two weeks.
Assistant Custodians Andy Annunziata and Jimmy Manning, and Cleaners Peter Flynn and Ashton Shettleworth were accused of time-theft based on surveillance video that showed they were not working while clocked-in as working, time for which they were paid.
Annunziata was allowed to retire. Manning and Flynn resigned rather than be terminated and be subject to a criminal referral. Shettleworth has, so far, chosen to contest the charges. He returned to work pending the outcome of an Article 75 hearing, a due process provision for Civil Service employees.
UPDATE 2/5/19: NRPD found one other record for Holton Smith per our FOIL request.
On October 19, 2018 at 9:08 p.m. Smith was stopped by New Rochelle Police after he ran a red light at the intersection of Eastchester Road and Clove Road.
A police report obtained from the New Rochelle Police Department by Talk of the Sound states police detected the odor of marijuana in Smith’s vehicle and found a total of 4 grams of marijuana in Smith’s possession. Police seized three baggies of marijuana, one baggie of burnt marijuana cigarettes, and one silver grinder containing marijuana, all contained in the center console of the vehicle.
Smith was issued a violation for Unlawful Possession of Marijuana and another for running a red light while driving a White 2003 Infinity. The marijuana was seized and the vehicle impounded.
The violation was issued near 248 Clove Road which is next to the McKenna Gymnasium at New Rochelle High School. This would be consistent with our initial information that Smith ran a red light, was pulled over by police in front of the high school. The night shift typically runs from roughly 3 pm to 11 pm so the time of the incident would be consistent with Smith having left the high school in the middle of his shift and having gotten using drugs while returning to the high school.
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