City official bought cell phone for teen with criminal record

NORFOLK

An assistant to the city manager bought a cell phone with taxpayer dollars and gave it to a teenager with a long juvenile criminal record in hopes that it would help him turn his life around.

However, the purchase backfired when William Kyle Barco, a 17-year-old, used it the next day while allegedly committing a violent felony.

Barbara Lai, who was then also head of the city's anti-gang program, paid for a $250 Palm Pixi with city funds, according to credit card records obtained by The Virginian-Pilot under the Freedom of Information Act.

She gave the phone to Barco, whom she said she was trying to mentor. She said she hoped a new phone with a new number would make it harder for gang members to reach Barco.

Barco used the phone in December to speak with gang members while allegedly abducting a young woman at gunpoint, according to court documents.

Barco, an Ocean View native, said in an interview recently at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail that Lai bought the phone for his personal use. "She was doing what she could to help me straighten out my life," he said.

Lai said she now regrets buying the phone. "If I'd had any idea what was going to happen, I would not have bought the cell phone," she said.

City Manager Regina V.K. Williams told Mayor Paul Fraim about Lai's phone purchase this week after an inquiry from The Virginian-Pilot.

"I'm amazed," Fraim said. "Regardless of how well-intended, it was a serious lapse of judgment."

"She shouldn't have done it. She has no authority to use city funds to buy a cell phone for a private individual. How she thought she could do that, I don't know."

Yet Lai, who is paid $107,000, still remains a city employee. She was reassigned to a position at City Hall in January.

Her heart was in the right place, Councilman Barclay C. Winn said.

"But it was obviously bad judgment," he said. "She just became too personally involved and let her heart rule her head."

Police have charged Barco with seven felonies, including abduction, robbery, car jacking, conspiracy and three counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, for a brutal abduction they and prosecutors say occurred on Dec. 14. Barco is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 31.

Police and prosecutors allege in court documents that Barco and Santiago Powell abducted a young woman after luring her to a parking lot by texting her on a cell phone stolen from one of her friends.

According to testimony from the victim in a court hearing, Barco pointed a gun at her and forced her into Powell's car. They covered her face and tied her up in the back seat.

After three hours in the car, the woman said Powell dropped off Barco at an unknown location. According to a police interview with Powell, Barco used the cell phone to communicate with others.

Powell at gunpoint later forced the victim to use her credit card to check into a hotel where he raped her three times. He also forced her to withdraw money from her checking account and buy him a video game system, according to court documents.

Circuit Court records indicate it was the second alleged rape committed by Powell within five days. Both attacks were committed, according to police records, "due to a friend of the victims talking bad" about gang members.

As head of an anti-crime initiative called Project Focus and a citywide anti-gang initiative, Lai said she was trying to mentor Barco, Powell and other gang members.

"If it in any way contributed to the commission of a crime, I'm very sorry," she said of the cell phone purchase. "There was no good that came of it."

Lai now works at City Hall, where she spends part of her time on Project Focus. However, she is no longer allowed to work with gang members she previously tried to help.

Although she said Lai violated city policy, Williams said Lai's actions were not fireable offenses. "Nor was there poor performance," she said.

Williams said she has not asked Lai to reimburse the city for the unauthorized purchase of the cell phone. "That has not come up as an issue," Williams said.

Williams said she learned about the cell phone purchase shortly before she reassigned Lai. Williams told City Council members in a closed meeting at the time only that Lai was "burned out."

She did not tell the council about the cell phone purchase. She also didn't tell the council about a meeting in which Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Underwood, Police Chief Bruce P. Marquis and other law enforcement officials expressed concerns to her about Lai's methods.

Prosecutors complained that she tried to visit youths while they were being interviewed by police detectives and tried to persuade prosecutors to reduce or drop charges against alleged gang members. Underwood investigated Lai for obstruction of justice but decided not to press charges, spokeswoman Amanda Howie said.

Winn expressed disappointment Friday when he learned of the cell phone purchase from a reporter. "That should have been communicated to us a long time ago," he said.

Project Focus is a long-troubled anti-crime initiative that began in late 2007 after demands from then-City Councilman W. Randy Wright for an increased police presence in East Ocean View. Williams responded with a plan to install surveillance cameras and increase police patrols and code enforcement in East Ocean View, Denby Park and Olde Huntersville.

But the first Project Focus director, hired by Williams, was forced to step down when The Virginian-Pilot revealed he was a convicted drug dealer who had committed manslaughter and been charged and found not guilty of murder. Lai, who had little formal law enforcement training, was named temporary head of the project in 2008 and permanent head in 2009.

Nikki Riddick, another assistant to Williams, now temporarily heads the program.

Williams said she wanted Lai to shape policies aimed at saving hundreds of gang members. Instead, Lai got bogged down trying to save individuals, she said.

"Barbara is an activist," Williams said. "And not only would she say we need to have these kinds of programs, she was actually out there starting those programs and doing it.

"That's where I think she erred in her judgment in doing it herself and not engaging the police, commonwealth's attorney's office and others so that they were party to it and thought it was OK."

A review of receipts from a city credit card issued to Lai from March 2009 through April of this year show that she spent more than $10,500.

The receipts indicate that she focused much of her attention on counseling local youths. The city failed to provide receipts for 46 of Lai's charges.

According to city documents, Lai spent thousands of dollars on pencils, paper, portfolios, drinks, stuffed animals, snacks and electronic gear for youths primarily in East Ocean View. She bought GED practice tests from the Virginia Beach school system and then paid for a student to take the GED test there.

"I was trying to help save these kids when they were 16 or 17, before they became adults," she said. "What I learned is that it's already too late for those kids. We need to get to them when they are 9 or 10."

Barco, a 6-foot-4 former Granby High School football player, said Lai genuinely tried to help him despite his juvenile criminal record. Lai said she was unaware of the specifics of his record.

In 2004, on his 12th birthday, he was charged with assault and battery, but was not convicted. In the years since, he was charged with 12 more offenses and convicted of seven, according to court records.

"I have messed up my life in a big way," he said.

Pilot writer Louis Hansen contributed to this story.

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com