Former school board manager found guilty of fraud, breach of trust

A former Newfoundland and Labrador English School District manager who was accused of directing school board employees to carry out tasks for his personal gain has been found guilty of two counts of fraud and one count of breach of trust.

Derek Newhook, 54, of Lewin's Cove on the Burin Peninsula, was originally charged in 2016 with a total of 17 counts of fraud and one count of breach of trust by a public officer.

The other charges againstNewhookwere dismissed.

• School board manager accused of using employees to do jobs for his personal benefit
• N.L. English School District manager charged with fraud

Judge Harold Porter delivered his decision in a Grand Bank courtroom Tuesday morning.

In his written decision, Porter wrote thathe didn't believe the accused, so that evidence had to be rejected. He also said that there was not enough evidence to overcome reasonable doubt in the remaining charges.

Newhook used EnglishSchool District employees to build three sheds and a double axle trailer for him, from January 2013 to December 2014 in Burin, and had theemployee bill those hours to the district.

He was found guilty of fraud for only one of thosesheds.

"The sheds were surplus to the requirements of the school board, in the sense that they were not immediately required for school purposes. Two of these three sheds remained on school board property, and one went, on the double axle trailer, to [an outside] equipment yard," Judge Porter wrote, noting that the third shed couldn't be accessed by the board.

He also noted that the school board needed a trailer to carry out its daily operations, but that it was also left in the equipment yard and registered underNewhook's name.

"With the exception of the shed and double axle trailer which was made by the board employees, at board expense, it is very difficult to quantify any other losses to the school board as a result of his alleged abuse of authority in the operation of the school board depot," Judge Porter wrote.

"There is, however, no doubt that the accused took advantage of his authority in the position of operations manager."

The judge noted that Newhook made decisions and took actions that were not in the best interest of his employer, which also favoured himself and his friend, who owned the equipment yard where the shed and trailer were stored.

Other charges dismissed

The other allegations, which were dismissed, spanned a 12-year time frame, from 2003 through the end of 2015.

Some of those charges included employees salvaging building materials from an old building in Garnish, building a baby barn, waxing Newhook's all-terrain vehicle and cleaning his personal truck, and servicing Newhook's daughter's car.

Sentencing submissions will be heard in Grand Bank provincial court on Aug. 24.

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