The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Arraignment set for January
The defense for former Gunnison RE1J School District information technology director Cannon Leatherwood waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Gunnison County Court on Monday, December 16, signaling Leatherwood’s willingness to proceed to trial with the facts as they’ve been presented by the prosecution.
The county courthouse where the hearing was held is being gutted for demolition and every department has been relocated to other buildings, except the courts. Only school district superintendent Doug Tredway, school board member Bill Powell, school district IT director Ron Musick, Leatherwood’s wife and father and two reporters were sitting in the pews that fill the courtroom.
After a short delay, Leatherwood was ushered in from the old jail in a red jumpsuit with shackles on his ankles and handcuffs linked to a belt around his waist.
Leatherwood faces eight felony counts of theft after school officials and Gunnison police investigators found a steady stream of invoices paid by the school district for technology that was never provided by companies owned by, or at least linked to, the district’s IT director.
Although the total sum Leatherwood allegedly embezzled from the district has never been disclosed, school officials have submitted a claim on a $500,000 insurance policy. However, the charges Leatherwood is currently facing all relate to his connection with Colorado Computer Consultants, a company that billed the Gunnison Watershed School District for more than $411,000 for technology purchases between March 2010 and July 2013.
Court documents show the district never got any equipment from Colorado Computer Consultants and that the company was registered with the Colorado secretary of state with Leatherwood listed as its owner.
Leatherwood was hired by the district in 2006 and led the team responsible for upgrading the technology in local classrooms during a recent $55 million renovation of six school buildings. The district fired Leatherwood before the allegations of theft were made public in August.
Leatherwood is scheduled to enter his plea at an arraignment in District Court, where felony cases are often tried, on January 7.
