Suspect worked at Jessica's school
His job at Homosassa Elementary gave him access to students. It is unknown whether he had contact with Jessica.
By COLLINS CONNER and BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published March 22, 2005
HOMOSASSA - For five months, convicted sex offender John Evander Couey worked as a mason's helper at Homosassa Elementary School, where 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford attended class.
A mason on the job said Couey had direct contact with students and teachers during the project, though it was unknown whether he had contact with Jessica.
Before that, Couey, who was formally arrested Monday in connection with Jessica's death, worked on the Crystal River Middle School remodeling project.
"Oh, my God," said School Board member Ginger Bryant. "I can't believe he ever set foot on any of our school sites. I feel yucky. I'm ready to throw up."
Jessica's family could not be reached for comment. But the news of Couey's employment came as a shock to Homosassa residents.
"How can they allow a pedophile to work on two schools?" said Diane Toto, president of the Homosassa Civic Club. "There is something seriously wrong with the law."
There is no law that bars laborers with criminal histories from school construction sites. And there is no state or district requirement that contractors screen laborers before hiring them for school construction projects.
The only thing the state checks is whether an employee owes back child support, said the two contractors who hired Couey for the campus work.
Builder R.E. Graham, the contractor at Homosassa Elementary, said Couey listed on his employment application that he had been arrested in the past for writing bad checks.
Couey worked in Homosassa Elementary's cafeteria building from January to April 2004, Graham said.
"He never worked in the remodeling of the school, so he shouldn't have been around any of the children," Graham said. "He worked on my side of the fence."
But mason Giles Cannon, who worked with Couey at both schools, said Graham was mistaken. Couey did work in areas where students were present, Cannon said.
Graham "wasn't there," he said. "He wouldn't have known."
At Crystal River Middle, Couey worked for Pyramid Masonry Contractors from August 2003 to January 2004, when he walked off the job, said Keith Sommer, regional vice president of Pyramid.
"I never actually met the guy," Sommer said. "Until right now, I didn't know he worked for us."
Pyramid's project superintendent, Steve Kinzie, said Couey and all other workers on the school site were separated from students by a fence.
"We were told - and we told them (the workers) - not to speak to students or faculty," Kinzie said. "Nobody was near the fence. The construction company was real stern about that. They strongly enforced that. They enforced it with us, and we, in turn, enforced it on our employees."
School superintendent Sandra "Sam" Himmel said she didn't know of any government agency that screens all construction workers on a school job site. She said she would ask School Board attorney Richard "Spike" Fitzpatrick to look into the issue.
In the Pasco school district, the bid documents include a statement to be signed by contractors that "they have verified that no one who will be on our school property has been convicted of" sex offenses or myriad other crimes, said Kendra Goodman, the district's purchasing agent.
At Homosassa, Cannon said, Couey and he worked in the new media center.
"Off and on, we would go to the library, and every time we were there we were mixed with students and teachers," Cannon said.
The faculty and students were carrying supplies into the media center while the final construction continued, Cannon said.
"And then, when we went into the (old buildings being renovated), Couey was there in the beginning of that. And we mixed with students and teachers," Cannon said. "We were through the whole building" when students were present.
Couey "said he was in jail, but he said it was all from drinking and driving and stuff like that," Cannon said.
But even that record would have barred him from working on a Pennsylvania school construction site, said Cannon, a Pennsylvania native.
"Up North, if you have anything (on your record), you can't work at a school," Cannon said. "They do FBI checks and the regular (local) checks.
"That's why they have the prevailing wage up North - to get the right people to do everything."
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, only construction workers who have "direct contact with students" must have a criminal background check and a child abuse history clearance.
But, Cannon said, contractors "don't want to take the chance," so they screen every worker.
"They do it at every job I've been at," Cannon said, "whether the workers are going to be with kids or not."
Cannon said many of the workers he met on the school job sites talked about having criminal records.
"You hear it here, there and everywhere," Cannon said.
Cannon said he laid Couey off because he was "giving us a hard time with everything he did."
"He wasn't all there, mentally," Cannon said. "He was kind of going off the wall."