Como reminded ‘No one is above the law’

Community members speak at sentencing of ex-Coatesville Area School District superintendent

WEST CHESTER » The seating benches in Courtroom Two of the Chester County Justice Center were lined with more than 100 people on hand to witness the sentencing of former Coatesville Area School District Superintendent Richard Wallace Como on Friday as Cathy Taschner walked to the podium to address Common Pleas Senior Judge Thomas G. Gavin.

The current superintendent in the Coatesville district was the first of 11 speakers called by the prosecution and defense to give Gavin their thoughts on Como, his character, his legacy, and his sentence for the theft and conflict of interest charges he was convicted of earlier this year.

And while not as emotional as some of the statements given during the three-hour long proceeding, Taschner’s was perhaps the one most focused on who the prosecution portrayed as the ultimate victims of Como’s crimes: the school district, its students, taxpayers, and stakeholders.

“Your honor, our district and our community have been deeply impacted by the actions of Richard Como,” said Taschner, the veteran school administrator who took the leadership position in the district in June 2014 about 10 months after Como resigned ahead of a brewing scandal over racist and sexist text messages that he played a central role in, and which led ultimately to his arrest, trial, and conviction.

“His actions have had a long-lasting, damaging impact on or students, or staff, and our taxpayers,” she said, reading from a prepared three-page statement. “While some may argue that Mr. Como’s crimes were minimal, we would claim quite the contrary.”

She spoke of the fiscal impact of the ensuing investigations into Como’s actions and those of others involved in the district at the time, including the “millions of dollars in legal fees, audits, investigations and countless hours” put into the effort to get to the bottom of what had happened under Como’s regime. She spoke of the erosion of trust that students grapple with after learning that Como used racist slurs to denigrate them, and took money he was not entitled to in order to honor those associated with the 2012 Red Raiders football team.

But she spoke most eloquently about the meaning of character, of conduct, and of consequences.

“Each day in our schools we teach children the importance of character and the importance of conduct,” she said, as Gavin and those in the courtroom — including two dozen or so visiting criminal justice students from Conestoga High School in Tredyffrin — listened intently. “They are expected to follow the code of conduct that is presented to them at the beginning of each school year. There are consequences when rules are violated, and most certainly when actual crimes are committed.

”It is important that they see the same consequences for everyone else, including those at the very top of privilege and title such as Richard Como,” she continued. “His sentencing today will provide an opportunity for our students to see that our system of justice is one that is equally applied to all, and that no one is above the law.

“Equally important, today our students will learn that the actions of every person has very real consequences,” Taschner declared. Consequences there were. At the end of the proceeding, Gavin — who has presided over Como’s case since it was bound over for trial in early 2015 — sentenced Como to three to 23 months in Chester County Prison, plus an additional three years of probation. The sentence struck a balance between the state prison term of more than 12 months recommended by Assistant District Attorneys Brian Burack and Andrea Cardamone, and the probation-only punishment that Como’s attorney, Christian Hoey of Paoli, sought.

The sentence is believed to be the first time in county history that a high-ranking public school official such as Como has been ordered to prison for crimes he committed while in office. The Coatesville athletic director who was implicated in the text-messaging scandal with Como, James Donato, was sentenced to two to 23 months in prison for separate theft offenses by Gavin in 2016.

Como, 71, of West Brandywine, was allowed to remain free on bail pending the filing of an appeal of his conviction that Hoey said would be forthcoming. Gavin set a reporting date of April 2 should he decide not to grant Como’s request to stay out of prison until his appeal is dealt with. Given the pace of judicial actions at the local and state level, that could be more than a year.

After a trial in January that lasted a week, Como was found guilty of two counts of theft by unlawful taking, two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, two counts of dealing in unlawful proceeds, and four counts of conflict of interest. He also was found guilty of two counts each of attempted theft by unlawful taking, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, and dealing in unlawful proceeds.

According to the prosecution’s sentencing memorandum, the total amount of time that Como could have been sentenced to is 64 to 128 years in prison.

Others that spoke on behalf of the prosecution besides Taschner included a mother who spoke of Como’s imperiousness when cutting a popular Junior ROTC program; a city pastor who spoke of the community’s “wonderful diversity” and how Como’s abusive language toward minorities would “take many years to overcome”; and a former school board member who described the turmoil left in Como’s wake.

In Como’s defense, seven people spoke in addition to the defendant himself, who declared, “I apologize to anyone I offended and for anything I did that was wrong. I didn’t know I was doing anything that was wrong.”

Those testifying included Como’s son Michael Como, a former school board member who said he saved the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses; a former basketball coach who spoke of his “caring and concern” for those he came across; a pastor who came to know him through work with the football team; two longtime friends who testified to his good character and charitable deeds; and a Coatesville activist who told Gavin how Como came to him to try to make amends for his conduct.

At one point, Hoey attempted to present Gavin with information that was directed at impeaching Taschner — including a petition demanding her resignation in 2016. Gavin declined to hear the testimony after Burack objected, saying Hoey was attempting to blame the victim in the case.

In handing down his sentence, Gavin noted the deep divide that existed in the courtroom between those who supported Como and those who did not, and urged those in the Coatesville community to do what his sentence could not — bridge the gap between the conflicting factions.

“If I were to order a transcript of the testimony this morning, no one would ever know that we have been talking about the same person,” the judge said, referring to the opposing views of Como, who sat stoically at the defense table during the proceeding. “If ever there was an example of a house divided, it is this case.”

“What we hope comes out of this sentence is that the City of Coatesville” unites behind the school district’s students, and no longer takes sides over Como’s legacy. “If everyone that leaves here today says, ‘I’m on the side of the students,’ then Coatesville will be a much better place.”

Richard Como