JUNE 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 15
By EDEN LAIKIN
Carmen Ayala and Patricia Spleen,
elected May 15 to the embattled
Hempstead School Board, are no
strangers to its majority, backed
by Hempstead for Hempstead,
according to campaign literature
and sources close to the group.
The self-proclaimed founder of
Hempstead For Hempstead is
former Hempstead school Trustee
Thomas Parsley, a registered sex
offender. Parsley, 40, was removed
from the school board in 2004 after
being convicted of grand larceny
for stealing a principal’s ATM card
and withdrawing $500. In 2010,
Parsley was sentenced to a year in
jail for sexual misconduct with a 15-
year old boy, records show. Parsley
couldn’t be reached for comment.
Hempstead for Hempstead was
represented by a lobbying group
called Gotham Government
Relations & Communications,
whose other clients include
President Donald Trump. Gotham’s
CEO is Brad Gerstman, of the
Gerstman, Schwartz & Malito law
firm.
At a Feb. 1, 2018 Hempstead School
Board meeting, the members of
the majority voted to retain the
Gerstman law firm to investigate
suspended school superintendent
Shimon Waronker and commence
legal action against a program he
brought into the district. In April,
Gotham Government Relations
was approved by the board to serve
as the District’s $5,000-per-month
public relations firm, according to a
Gotham staffer.
“We cut ties with Hempstead for
Hempstead when we were appointed
as the public relations firm for the
school district,” Gerstman says,
noting that there was no overlap or
conflict. “And we didn’t continue to
investigate or anything related to
law firm activities.”
“What they need from us at
this period of time is to be their
mouthpiece,” Gerstman adds. “I feel
good about our small part in trying
to clean it up and right the wrongs
that may have occurred there.”
The previous board candidate
backed by Hempstead for
Hempstead was Randy Stith, who
was back June 1 before a judge
to answer for his latest criminal
charges: A 13-count indictment for
allegedly stealing money from the
Hempstead Fire Department and
forging a letter of recommendation
from the department to become a
Hempstead police officer. Stith, 27,
pleaded not guilty and faces up to
seven years in prison.
An earlier criminal charge initially
disqualified Stith from civil
service. To persuade Nassau’s Civil
Service Commission to rescind the
disqualification, he allegedly filed
a forged letter of recommendation
purporting to be signed by another
member of Hempstead’s Southside
Hose 2 fire company, vouching for
his character.
The earlier crime was in 2010,
when Stith was 19 years old. He
was arrested for hitting a woman
in the head with a bottle of bleach
and splashing the chemical into her
eyes during a dispute over clothes
at a Hempstead Laundromat. He
was charged with misdemeanor
assault and possession of the bottle
of bleach as a weapon. He pled
guilty to a noncriminal harassment
violation, served five days in jail,
and paid $320 in fines and court
fees.
On April 25, hours before Stith
turned himself in for the latest
charges, the Hempstead School
District released a statement:
“Hempstead School Board Member
Randy Stith is someone who has
given years to public service and
deserves the benefit of the doubt.
However, these are very serious
allegations and if the charges are
proven true, then the school district
and school board will have to
address it immediately.”
Stith could not be reached for
comment.
He is accused of stealing more than
$6,500 from the Hempstead Fire
Department while he served as
treasurer from 2015 to 2018. Stith
allegedly made 12 unauthorized
cash withdrawals from the bank
account of Southside Hose 2 and
then falsified documents to cover
it up. He was terminated from the
department in January.
Based on the recommendation he
allegedly falsified, Stith became a
Hempstead village police officer
last year. At his swearing in, his
godfather, Hempstead Village
Mayor Don Ryan, said, “The village
is confident that he will prove to be
a fine addition to the village police
force.”
Last month, Mayor Ryan, village
and school board trustee LaMont
Johnson and the rest of the village
Board voted not to terminate
Probationary Officer Stith, opting
instead to leave him on paid
administrative leave as the criminal
case winds through the legal
system. Later, Ryan said he meant
to recuse himself from the vote.
Johnson did not recuse himself. The
mayor’s assistant, school trustee
David Gates, could not be reached
for comment.
TROUBLES MOUNT
IT’S ALL CONNECTED
HEMPSTEAD
SCHOOL
CRISIS
Randy Stith is still serving on the Hempstead school board despite his
recent arrest for alleged fraud.