NYC schools investigators had secret ammo stash with nearly 6,000 live rounds, distributed bullets in brown folders: lawsuit
Top school investigators hoarded nearly 6,000 rounds of live ammunition and distributed the bullets amongst themselves to cover it up, a bombshell lawsuit claims. The Special Commissioner of Investigation’s office, which independently probes allegations made against the city Department of Education and its employees, is accused of stockpiling over 5,700 rounds of ammunition without a permit in a wooden cabinet at its Manhattan headquarters.The Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit accuses SCI Commissioner Anastasia Coleman as well as the city’s Law Department, Conflict of Interest Board and Department of Investigation of ignoring evidence of wrongdoing and sweeping corruption under the rug. SCI viciously axed, suspended or forced out the whistleblowers who exposed the wrongdoing, they claim in the lawsuit. Former SCI tech investigator Roberto El Lakkis and SCI computer systems manager Richard Marin filed the Article 78 lawsuit to ask the court to force the agencies to address the widespread corruption.El Lakkis first raised the ammo issue to higher-ups at the agency in April 2023, saying bullets were improperly stored in an unlocked cabinet in a room without a fire extinguisher that also stored batteries, posing a serious fire hazard, according to the lawsuit, first reported on by Susan Edelman on Substack. The building that houses SCI’s office in the Financial District is also home to the private K-12 Quad Preparatory School.
SCI agents do not make arrests and are not authorized to carry guns for the purposes of their jobs, save for a few peace officers with the agency.Other agents are former NYPD officers and are permitted to carry their personal firearms, for which they are responsible.Only three peace officers were working for the agency at the time, Marin told The Post.New York City’s fire code requires a permit for the storage of more than 200 rounds.
SCI did not have a permit to store the ammunition, per the lawsuit. After his concerns went unanswere...