No Criminal Charges Likely in Grosse Pointe Schools Email Case, Farms Police Say

The has been closed and while inappropriate adult images were found on all three, none of the material was illegal, Public Safety Director Dan Jensen said. 

Jensen will be returning the hard drives to the school district and informing them of the police findings Wednesday or Thursday. No criminal charges are likely as none of the images violated any laws, he said. 

The investigation led to the —Principal Allan Diver and Assistant Principal Brandon Slone—May 21. While no disciplinary action has been taken against either in this case, the district did say they were two of the employees under investigation. 

The hard drive of a third district employee who has yet to be identified was also part of the investigation. That hard drive was taken from a location other than South but officials have declined to say where. Jensen said many inappropriate adult images were found on all three of the hard drives.

He described the images as tasteless/inappropriate humor and said they had been passed around. None of the images involved children and none were what most people would consider pornography, Jensen said.

He did not have an exact number but said there were many images.

Assistant Superintendent Thomas Harwood said the  continues. Once police officially share their findings, those will be passed on to the school district's attorneys for their review, Harwood said.

The attorneys' findings will determine the next step, Harwood said, explaining such investigations are rare.

Diver and Slone are said to have violated the district's technology policy by emailing inappropriate adult images on their personal email accounts on their school-issued computers and BlackBerrys. The investigation began in early May after Grosse Pointe school officials received a call from Chippewa Valley School District about inappropriate material being forwarded from a Grosse Pointe employee to one of their employees, Harwood said.

The district investigates misuse of technology only when given a reason, Harwood said, whether it's someone reporting possible misuse as in this case or an employee uses the computer to a degree that it's taking substantial time away from their instructional time.

The employees were not informed that they were being investigated, Harwood said. While employees of the district are aware of the investigation, it is not known whether the third employee knows he or she is a target of this investigation.

Meanwhile, the district posted both job openings for GP South High School on its website Wednesday. The deadline to apply is June 17 for both positions.

Attempts to reach Diver and Slone have been unsuccessful. Both men worked at the school for years. Diver began as principal in 2001 and gave the position stability following years in which principals came and went. 

Slone worked as a social studies teacher, then as the athletic director and finally as the assistant principal.