Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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Stanford Ray — a former attendance counselor for all four city schools — was terminated from his position in early January, according to school officials. He had been employed by the school system since August 2001.
According to Lt. Raymond Widener of the Thomasville Police Department, Ray has been accused of having sexual relations with a girl that was 17 years old at the time of the incident. The female has had a baby since the alleged sexual offense. Ray is also accused of possibly being the father of the baby, Widener confirmed.
Widener said he met with District Attorney Garry Frank Tuesday morning to discuss bringing charges against the former TCS employee.
“The alleged offense probably occurred sometime in 2006,” Widener said. “It is an allegation that she was a student at the time. It is illegal for any employee in a school system to have relations with a student. It is up to the district attorney to assign a charge and they’re looking at that.”
The Department of Social Services brought the case to the attention of Thomasville police in the last 30 days, Widener said.
An attempt to reach Frank about the exact nature of the possible charges against Ray was not returned Wednesday at press time.
TCS Superintendent Daniel Cockman said Wednesday that he was aware TPD had been investigating the case.
“As soon as I became aware of his involvement with a former student and potentially a student [at the time of the alleged incident], we moved to dismiss him,” he said.
Cockman said the school system conducted its own investigation — prior to the January school board meeting — where they found out there might have been some “involvement.”
“When we were able to confirm involvement, we dismissed him,” the superintendent said.
Attempts to reach Ray and the victim have been unsuccessful. The Thomasville Times is not naming the victim in the case because she was a minor at the time of the occurrence.
According to criminal records, this isn’t the first time Ray has been in trouble with the law.
In November of 1984, Ray was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of assault on a female. Then in February of 1986, he was convicted of a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to inflict serious injury. His sentence was probation.
In 1982, he was charged and convicted for assault on a female. He was ordered to pay a $50 fine, plus court costs, $127 restitution for doctor bills and was told not to harass or threaten the victim.
Considering the nature of his past crimes, Cockman was questioned on how Ray was eligible for employment with the city schools system.
“Mr. Ray, for a number of years, had been a community volunteer in our school system,” Cockman explained. “He had coached a number of AAU basketball teams. At the time he was hired, he was married and had some children in our school system. I was aware he had a conviction in the 1980s and felt like over a period of years he had earned a chance to work with the school system.”
Previously, Ray had coached girl’s basketball at Thomasville Middle School. He was also working with a group of African-American males by encouraging them to go to college and taking them on campus visits.
Despite awareness of some of Ray’s criminal background, his gestures of good intent gave school officials the impression Ray was a changed man.
His latest offense has caused Cockman to say that giving Ray a chance was the wrong move. Taking full blame for the hiring of Ray during a phone interview Wednesday, Cockman also said if he knew of all the previous charges, the hiring wouldn’t have happened.
“Honestly, I told the school board at the meeting that I felt bad about it and I thought it was a mistake in the sense I believed I did the right thing,” he said. “Unfortunately these charges came up and we had to move to dismiss him.”
As far as hiring practices, Cockman said the school system’s first obligation is to keep “our children safe.”
“Generally, our position is if they have a criminal record at all, we are not going to hire them,” he said. “Having said that, you have to look at what the charge is. Was it a misdemeanor? What was involved? In the community here, is it worth giving someone another chance?”
Staff Writer Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 231, or ignasiak@tvilletimes.com.