Why were Utica Superintendent Bruce Karam and former Mayor Louis LaPolla arrested?

Utica school Superintendent Bruce Karam has been arrested, law enforcement officials announced Tuesday.

And former school board President and former Utica Mayor Louis LaPolla has been arrested again, they said.

The news was announced jointly by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara and New York State Police.

Karam, who has been on paid administrative leave since Oct. 18, 2022, is accused of using nearly $15,000 worth of taxpayer funds — including both school supplies and district staff time — to send out political mailers and invitations to a non-school-related fundraiser, officials said.

The invitations were to an event for a “purported” charity run by LaPolla, who was allegedly aware of the misuse of district resources for the event, law enforcement officials said.

LaPolla was also arrested on Sept. 22 and faces six federal counts of mail fraud in a case connected to donations to a scholarship fund in memory of his wife.

Both men have been charged with fourth-degree grand larceny and public corruption. Karam also faces additional counts of fourth-degree grand larceny and a charge of third-degree corruption of the government.

They were arraigned in Oneida County Court before Judge Michael Dwyer; they will appear in court again on Dec. 1.

“The diversion of funds meant to support the education and well-being of students by high-ranking school officials is an appalling betrayal of the public trust,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “Instead of serving the students of the district who they were duty-bound to help, these two defendants allegedly chose to serve themselves.”

School board reaction

The Utica City School District put out a statement acknowledging Karam’s indictment on five counts and LaPolla’s on two counts.

“Utica City School District officials and staff have and will continue to cooperate with the district attorney’s investigation,” the statement read. “As we analyze the charges and their implications for UCSD, we will provide a more detailed statement to our community at a special Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, at 4:00 p.m.”

The meeting livestream will be available here.

Investigation findings

Here’s what investigators say happened, according to the state police, comptroller and district attorney:

• Karam allegedly sent out campaign literature in support of school board candidates he favored — candidates who, if elected, would determine his salary and other terms of employment — using school stamps, envelopes and other supplies.

• He also allegedly used district envelopes and stamps to send out the fundraiser invitations and allegedly had district employees insert the invitations into the envelopes during school hours.

• LaPolla allegedly knew about the use of school resources for his fundraiser.

• The resources allegedly improperly used were worth $14,649, including $9,775 in stamps, $1,015 in other supplies and $3,859 in compensation for employees’ hours of work.

• Allegedly, Karam also tried to cover up his behavior by persuading district employees to say that the resources were used for a legitimate purpose.

Karam’s history

The Utica school board voted 4-3 to place Karam on paid administrative leave on Oct. 18, 2022 while an investigation took place into complaints made against Karam by two district administrators.

An independent investigator, hired by Karam himself, released a report in January that accused Karam of using inappropriate, disrespectful language to employees; having employees do non-school-related work on school hours; and engaging in behavior that rose to the level of “bullying.”

The board voted unanimously in January to keep Karam on unpaid administrative leave.

The district now has its third acting superintendent since Karam was placed on leave; it continues to pay both Karam’s salary and benefits as well as a salary to the acting superintendent.

Karam has claimed both contract violation and a conspiracy to oust him, taking the district and four school members (as well as previous Acting Superintendent Bryan Nolan)  to both state and federal court (losing in state court) and appealing the investigator’s findings, an appeal that he lost.

The district has since taken Karam to court, asking the board to nullify his contract or a provision within his contract, allowing the board to fire him.

Karam has been superintendent since 2011 and worked for the district for many years before then.

LaPolla’s history

LaPolla was indicted by a federal grand jury on Sept. 20 on six counts of mail fraud and arrested two days later. He pleaded not guilty to all six charges.

Mail fraud charges carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

LaPolla allegedly used about $38,000 in donations made to a scholarship fund in his late wife’s name himself instead of giving out scholarships between March 2018 and May 2022. His wife, Andrea, died in March 2018.

Each of the charges corresponds to a specific document being used to prove the case: four checks with donations mailed to LaPolla’s home and two flyers for a retirement fundraiser dinner mailed from LaPolla’s home to two individuals who were not named in court documents.

Court documents show that LaPolla's jury trial on the mail fraud charges is scheduled to begin on Feb. 26, 2024 before Judge Glenn Suddaby in federal court in Syracuse.

LaPolla served as Utica mayor from 1984 to 1995. He sat on the school board for 21 years, including as president for his last four years on the board, before retiring from public service at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Utica school Superintendent Karam, former mayor LaPolla arrested