MASSACHUSETTS COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SCHOOL BY EDUCATOR Salem News

DANVERS — A former Danvers school employee who tricked his colleagues into supporting him through a bogus battle with cancer and stole $5,200 worth of computer equipment from the Danvers schools is in trouble again.

Stephen Lombardi, who served as science and technology director for the Danvers schools, is now accused of doctoring a teaching certificate to get a job in the Sharon Public Schools after he left Danvers in July 2003.

Lombardi, 45, was arraigned yesterday on charges he altered someone else's teaching certificate and used it to get a job as secondary science coordinator in Sharon. He pleaded not guilty.
If it's true Lombardi is not state-certified, it could mean he also faked his credentials to get the Danvers job — a position that requires a teaching certificate and a director's certificate, according to the Danvers schools.

"It was just a very bad experience all around," said Richard Warren, business manager for the Danvers schools. "It's very hard for me. I don't like to talk about people, but he was just the most bizarre individual I ever met."

Warren said Lombardi's personnel file was not accessible late yesterday afternoon, but he believed Lombardi had presented a teaching certificate when he was hired in Danvers.

"Certainly we require people to be certified," Warren said.

According to the attorney general's office, which is prosecuting the Sharon case, the Department of Education found that Lombardi had taken some tests in order to become certified, but he failed the required science test twice. The DOE did not return a call yesterday afternoon.

After less than five months on the job in Sharon, in December 2003, the schools noticed a problem with Lombardi's certification and notified the DOE, according to a spokeswoman at the attorney general's office.

During the investigation, Lombardi resigned from the Sharon schools on Jan. 21, 2004, the spokeswoman said.

While employed in Sharon — about half a year — Lombardi earned $29,556. During his year in Danvers, the schools paid him $75,000. As science and technology director, he supervised teachers but did not teach in the classroom, Warren said.

"I hope he hasn't hurt (more) people along the way," Warren said yesterday.

Lombardi worked in the Danvers schools from July 2002 to July 2003.

Throughout that year, he deceived the School Department with his story of malignant melanoma. His colleagues rallied to support him in his "battle" with skin cancer. They understood when he took extra sick days and even gave him a ride to his home in Newton one day when he said he wasn't feeling well. (He now lives in Sharon.)

But when Lombardi showed up with a tan after some sick time off in July 2003, then-Assistant Superintendent Lisa Dana became suspicious and asked for a doctor's note. The next day, Lombardi confessed he had lied about having cancer and resigned.

Adding insult to injury, the school community was already coping with the illness and death of a much-admired superintendent, Betty Allen, who had lung cancer.

After Lombardi left, school officials learned he had just ordered two Apple notebook computers at a cost of $3,300, forging Dana's name on the order. He also had stolen other equipment. When he returned only one computer, police filed charges.

The case landed in Salem District Court last February, and Lombardi was found guilty of stealing from the schools. He was ordered to pay for the $5,200 worth of computer equipment he had taken. The judge also placed him on three years' probation.

The schools confirmed yesterday that Lombardi has since paid for the equipment he stole.

Lombardi is scheduled to appear in Norfolk Superior Court May 2. His lawyer, John Ruby, could not be reached late yesterday for comment.