Attorney: Freeport Principal Did Not Use Fake Fingerprints To Get Hired
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The attorney representing the Freeport middle school principal accused of having sex with a minor said there is no evidence his client submitted phony fingerprints to hide his criminal past.
State Department of Education officials contend that 44-year-old John O'Mard used someone else's fingerprints to get hired as principal of J.W. Dodd Middle School nearly 10 years ago.
Department of Education spokesperson Dennis Thompkins said the fingerprints allowed O'Mard to pass a criminal background check.
Attorney: Freeport Principal Did Not Use Fake Fingerprints To Get Hired
O'Mard had a past conviction for grand larceny and another for petty larceny, 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reported.
Attorney Edward Jenks said Monday that Omard's fingerprint card was destroyed by the state.
"They can't produce the original fingerprint card," Jenks said, adding that a computer scan of the print had also been botched. "The technician, whoever scanned it in, doesn't have a signature at the bottom of the card. They don't have the identification of the person attached to those prints. For all I know, they could be the prints of the man on the moon."
Jenks called his client a beacon for the community who will prove his innocence.
"As far as I'm concerned all his educational degrees are authentic," Jenks said. "He did not forge anything."
Meanwhile, O'mard's sex case has been adjourned until April 19.
Attorney: Freeport Principal Did Not Use Fake Fingerprints To Get Hired
He is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old boy he met online last September.
O'Mard pleaded not guilty to four counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree last week. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
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