And you wonder why pedophiles are never caught?
. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/130/metro/Owners_of_van_company_saw_a_good_deed_go_bad+.shtml
Owners of van company saw a good deed go bad
By Corey Dade, Globe Staff, 5/10/2002
eon and Lula Mae Johnson had run their children's shuttle service to meet the needs of working parents and, when they could, do God's work of helping people turn around their fortunes.
No one seemed more in need than Franklin Speed, who by age 27 had a long history of drug dealing, assault, and gun possession, but now wanted to follow a straighter path. Speed was about to be a father and wanted to make an honest living.
The Bible says a man deserves a second chance, the Johnsons, who are Jehovah's Witnesses, believe.
''We normally don't hire anyone with a criminal record. But I thought about that young judge on TV,'' said the company's owner, Leon Johnson, referring to Judge Greg Mathis, a gang member as a teen who was later elected to the bench in Detroit before starring in his own courtroom television show. ''Somebody gave him a chance. Somebody pulled him up.''
So Speed went to work for the Johnsons as a driver, but on his second day on the job, disaster struck.
A Johnson and Johnson Transportation Co. van, driven by Speed, careened across Cummins Highway in Roslindale and plowed into an oncoming car, killing Myrna Skerritt, 36, of Hyde Park, and her 19-month-old daughter Jaelle.
Today, 10 days after the accident, Speed is scheduled to appear in West Roxbury District Court, where a clerk-magistrate will decide whether to charge him with vehicular manslaughter.
If he is charged, prosecutors said, they could upgrade the alleged crime to felony manslaughter.
Overcome with shock and guilt, the Johnsons fear that their efforts to give someone a chance at redemption could be their undoing.
On Tuesday, as they sat in the dining room of their attorney's Dorchester home, they appeared fatigued and said they feel betrayed.
What the Johnsons had taken as honesty from Speed about his criminal past turned out to be only partly true. Speed had supplied documents indicating he had a clean criminal record since 1998, encouragement enough for the Johnsons that he had mended his ways.
In fact, his criminal record was spotless for nearly four years because he was behind bars at the time for assault with intent to kill, among other offenses. The Johnsons said Speed never told them he had been released from state prison six months before applying for the job.
''I wouldn't have hired him if I'd known he'd just come out of jail,'' Leon Johnson said.
As the Johnsons reflect on their decision to place children in the care of a habitual criminal who lacked a commercial driver's license, their business has stalled. Immediately after the accident, the Registry of Motor Vehicles seized the license plates of their fleet of five vans.
And the state Office of Child Care Services suspended Lula Mae Johnson's license to operate her at-home day care pending an investigation, though she said she had closed her business last year.
Several obstacles confront the Johnsons' return to business. Only three of their five vans had the school bus plates necessary for vehicles to legally carry children. Some of the vans lack flashing lights or ''School Bus'' markings the state requires. The Registry of Motor Vehicles has started inspecting the Johnsons' vans.
Looming is a wrongful death lawsuit expected to be brought by Dalton Skerritt, the widower of Myrna Skerritt and Jaelle's father, which could endanger the family's personal assets. There is also the possibility of criminal charges.
The Suffolk district attorney's office is considering impaneling a grand jury to determine if Johnson and Johnson Transportation Co. can be held criminally responsible for the accident.
After his auto parts business failed, Leon Johnson started his transportation company eight years ago out of the family's Mattapan home. From transporting about 20 children a week, Johnson and Johnson expanded to 80 children.
Police are still trying to dermine the cause of the accident. Investigators also are inspecting the Ford van Speed was driving the morning of May 1. Skerritt died at the scene. Jaelle, strapped in a car seat, died the next day at Children's Hospital.
By coincidence, Lula Mae Johnson happened past the accident scene and spotted the red van, flipped onto its side. She thought the van looked familiar but didn't have time to stop because she had children to drop off. ''I saw a baby chair and somebody was standing over the seat,'' she said. ''I assumed they were giving CPR because that's the way we would do it.''
Lula Mae Johnson picked up her cellphone and contacted her husband, suggesting that he check the whereabouts of his other vans.
''I picked up the two-way radio and I started calling for Mr. Speed to pick up,'' said Leon Johnson, who was behind the wheel of another van. When Speed didn't answer, ''I just had a gut feeling that it's got to be my van,'' he said.
Johnson hurried to Cummins Highway. He asked Speed how he had lost control of the van. ''He said he really didn't know,'' Johnson said. ''Then he started saying something about how the brakes were bad,'' he said. ''I know the brakes weren't bad because my daughter drove it the night before.''
On Monday, Skerritt, a former nurse and native of Arquin, Haiti, and Jaelle were buried in Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park.
Dalton Skerritt has hired Boston attorney Daniel P. Munnelly and has refused interview requests. Through Munnelly, Dalton Skerritt released a statement on Tuesday saying, ''persons responsible for taking the life of my wife and daughter will be brought to justice.''
''I want to know why an improperly licensed operator and vehicle was on the road,'' the statement said. ''I want to know how children's day care and children's transportation businesses can operate without background checks and oversight. I want to know why this happened.''
Even though he isn't legally required to do so, Johnson said he has all job applicants provide state criminal background checks. The criminal search on Speed revealed only a fraction of his more than 20 convictions, the earliest from a pair of drug cases when he was 17. The list, reviewed by the Globe, showed the most recent assault conviction in 1998, but omitted the four-year sentence he received.
However, a separate criminal background check requested by the Globe from the state showed all his convictions and his most recent incarceration.
''Why wouldn't they give us that on the record?'' said Lula Mae Johnson. ''There was no way for us to know.''
Before hiring him, Leon Johnson said he sat with Speed and ''talked with him a long time. His girlfriend was having a baby. He said he changed in four years, was getting himself together. He mentioned no one was giving him a chance.''
Speed was hired for a 90-day probationary period, though he didn't have the necessary 7D license for transporting children. State law mandates employers to ensure drivers possess the license before taking the wheel. Johnson said he expected Speed to obtain the license in his first three months on the job. Drivers also are supposed to be certified in CPR.
The Johnsons said they didn't know if Speed had such training.
Corey Dade can be reached at [email protected].