Pasadena : Security Chief Drops Plea
Charles Parcell, the Pasadena schools security chief charged with filing a false police report about a stolen district computer, has withdrawn his not-guilty plea in an effort to get the complaint dismissed as insufficient.
His attorney, Terrence Bennett, withdrew Parcell’s plea Tuesday and asked that a pretrial hearing be delayed until Feb. 19 while he files a demurrer motion.
Bennett will claim that even if the allegations are true, the accused man did not break the law.
Authorities allege that Parcell removed an $1,800 computer from the district’s special-education department, then hid it and filed a police report declaring it stolen after employees, who went to report it missing, saw it in the security office. The computer was later recovered from a trash sack in the security office by police.
Bennett said Parcell only received the report of the missing computer and passed it on to Pasadena police as required by law.
An administrative court hearing to determine whether Parcell can be fired for alleged misuse of a district cellular telephone, misappropriation of a computer and sexual harassment has been delayed until Feb. 16. The Board of Education in a closed executive session Jan. 8 terminated Parcell’s contract.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
