The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Eight felony theft counts and $100,000 cash bond
Cannon Leatherwood, the former Gunnison Watershed School District Information Technology director who was allegedly at the head of a scheme that defrauded the local schools of more than $500,000, is scheduled to appear in Gunnison County Court for a preliminary hearing December 16.
After the school district in July discovered a long string of fraudulent invoices sent to and paid by the school district from companies linked to Leatherwood, he was charged with eight counts of felony theft and transferred to Gunnison County Jail from Denver, where he was serving time for driving under the influence.
The hearing Tuesday will be an opportunity for the prosecution to present enough of a case for County Court Judge Ben Eden to deem that a trial should go forward. Judge Eden has already ruled that the arrest warrants that brought Leatherwood back to Gunnison were appropriate under the circumstances.
The charges being brought against Leatherwood that will be addressed at Monday’s hearing all relate to his connection with Colorado Computer Consultants, a company that billed the Gunnison Watershed School District for more than $411,000 for allegedly phony technology purchases between March 2010 and July 2013.
Leatherwood was the IT director in charge of purchasing and installing all of the technology integrated into schools across the district during a $55 million renovation that was completed two years ago.
According to court documents, investigators and district staff also found what appeared to be connections between Leatherwood and another technology company that suggested a similar operation might be at work under another name. However, those findings won’t be part of Monday’s hearing.
Instead, the preliminary hearing will focus on seven class-three felonies that cover Leatherwood’s alleged thefts of more than $20,000 and occurred twice or more within six months.
The first count against Leatherwood is for allegedly stealing more than $101,000 between March and June of 2010. The second count, covering the next six months in 2010, accounts for nearly $22,000 more. Then, over the next two years, Leatherwood is charged with stealing, on average, more than $60,000 from the school district every six months.
The seventh felony count against Leatherwood is for the $25,080 stolen between January and June of 2013 and the final count – a charge of fourth degree felony theft – covers more than $20,000 stolen in June and July of that year.
To fight the charges against him, Leatherwood has hired Denver Attorney Forrest Lewis, who also represented former Gunnison attorney Phil Klingsmith after Klingsmith was accused of theft as the power of attorney for elderly Gunnison residents.
At the same time, the school district continues to pursue a civil lawsuit against Leatherwood in an attempt to recover some of the lost money. Similarly, the district is still waiting to hear the outcome of a $500,000 insurance claim that was filed after the alleged theft.
Meanwhile, Leatherwood is awaiting his fate at Gunnison County Jail with a $100,000 cash-only bond.
