Henderson ISD Trustee Accused of Paying Teens to Vandalize Opponent’s Property
I've always said that you can't trust an elected official beyond the level of school board member, but I may have to rethink that philosophy.
Jeff Awtrey with KLTV-TV reports that Jonathan Earl Best of Henderson, Texas was recently arrested and charged with state jail felony criminal mischief. Police say he paid a couple of teenagers to damage the property of a man running against him for a seat on the Henderson ISD school board.
The opponent, Adam Duey, told police Best once introduced himself and said "I will destroy you". Not long after, Duey's tires were slashed and it was discovered that sugar had been poured into his gas tank. He also noticed that some of his political signs had been stolen.
Detectives caught a break when they reviewed footage from a game camera and spotted a truck belonging to one of Best's employees involved in the theft of some of Duey's signs.
The employee said the truck must have been driven without his permission, and police were able to determine that the man's son and a friend were responsible. The teenagers told authorities Best paid them $40 to wreck Duey's stuff.
Police had the employee's son call Best and offer to do more damage. During the call, Best reportedly said, "No, at-a-way I can sit on stage and say I don’t know nothing about it.”
How crazy is that? Someone gets a little taste of power and it's hard to let it go, I guess. Since I don't have kids, I don't make it to many school board meetings. Who knew there was so much drama and espionage?
Maybe I should start going with a bag of popcorn and large Coke in tow. It sounds like I could be missing out on some real-life Scorsese moments. Someone save me a seat in the middle.
Also, "don't know know nothing" is a double negative. That's grammar unbeffiting a school official.