Former employee ‘sabotaged’ bid to benefit winning security firm he co-founded
TRENTON >> The firm that previously provided security for Trenton Public Schools until this year sued Patriot Security Group in August, claiming a former employee was a plant who purposely sabotaged bidding paperwork in order to gain an unfair advantage for a rival company he owned.
Somerville-based Motivated Security Group (MSG) sued after losing out on a $2.5 million security contract that was awarded by the Trenton Board of Education to to the security firm’s rival, Patriot Security Group.
The problem, MSG’s attorneys wrote in a complaint, was that its former employee, Gary Slodowski, also a co-founder at Kearny-based Patriot Security Group, was still working for MSG at the time the bids were submitted.
That was a huge conflict of interest that made the Request for Proposal process hugely unfair because Slodowski crafted, prepared and submitted MSG’s bid while he was actually a co-owner at Patriot.
Patriot Security Group, which didn’t respond to calls seeking comment, had been handling security efforts at Trenton schools after winning the contract in August.
It had remained in place, at least temporarily, while the litigation, involving Slodowski and Patriot co-founder Bryan Granelli, has played out in court over the past three months.
The messy situation has entangled the school district in the ugly personal legal spat that has left Trenton schools without security guards following a controversial “walkout,” spurred by an expiring court order.
MSG had previously asked a state court judge for an injunction to prevent Patriot from “accepting or entering” into the contract with Trenton schools.
But the parties signed a consent order in October allowing Patriot to remain in place as the district’s security provider. However, the terms of the agreement froze Trenton from making any payments to Patriot until after a hearing was concluded to decide the matter.
That agreement expired Friday, according to court papers obtained by The Trentonian.
Patriot’s attorneys wrote in court papers the security firm couldn’t afford to pay employees because of the frozen contract, leading to the walkout.
Both sides have barely submitted additional papers ahead of the continuation of the hearing.
There was no immediate word when that may take place, but Mayor Reed Gusciora indicated the city would being filing court papers early next week seeking on emergency ruling so Trenton schools and students aren’t left in jeopardy because they don’t have security guards.
The controversy between MSG and Patriot centers on co-owner Slodowski, who was previously employed by Motivated Security Group and prepared its bid.
MSG’s attorney attached records to the lawsuit indicating that Slodowski founded Patriot with co-owner Granelli in 2011.
MSG, which had been Trenton schools security provider since 2015, suspected as far back as 2016 that Slodowski was involved in running Patriot but Slodowski denied that was the case.
And the company didn’t have proof at the time to suggest he was lying, according to the lawsuit.
While still working for Motivated Security Group, Slodowski, who was making roughly $140,000 until he was fired, had access to the firm’s confidential information and insider knowledge about its practices which he used to prepare bidding paperwork submitted to Trenton Public Schools on behalf of MSG to try to win the renewal of the contract.
Motivated Security Group’s president reviewed Slodowski’s submission and noticed glaring holes in it that “would make it virtually impossible for the proposal to be successful.”
Later, Slodowski claimed to Motivated Security Group’s upper brass he would be attending a meeting in which the winning bidder would be revealed.
He “falsely” claimed to his bosses at MSG afterward that neither their firm nor Patriot, but another company named Securitas, was awarded the contract, according to the lawsuit.
MSG later uncovered Slodowski’s lies after reviewing the BOE’s agenda that indicated the winning bid was, in fact, Patriot, the lawsuit states.
Around the same time, MSG officials uncovered proof of what it suspected all along: that Slodowski co-owned Patriot and was “seeking to sabotage” Motivated Security Group’s bid for Patriot’s benefit, the court papers stated.
MSG’s attorneys contacted the BOE to let it know Slodowski’s connections made the bidding process “invalid.”
Slodowski was fired from MSG the same day the Trenton BOE voted to award the contract to Patriot, at the Aug. 27 meeting.
Slodowski, district officials or representatives of Motivated Security Group could not be reached for comment.