UPDATED: Mesquite football coach found to be pawning and repurchasing school equipment

Updated 10:32 p.m., June 12, 2008

by PegNews wire

MESQUITE — Mesquite High School football coach and athletic coordinator Steve Halpin was found by the police to be pawning, then buying back, more than $2,000 worth of school equipment including cameras and computers. But Mesquite ISD superintendent Linda Henrie decided it wasn't worth pressing charges or reporting the problem to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), even though it's required. Instead, they were just letting him retire, and he was already in the middle of applying for another job in Longview. And according to the DMN, an assistant superintendent didn't send a letter to the TEA until a week after the paper asked for documents and e-mails involving the thefts.

Coworkers noticed the stuff was missing. Halpin denied it at first, then admitted he took it. But hey, he's president of the Texas High School Coaches Association, and he also led the team to eight playoffs, even winning the Class 5A Division I state championship in 2001. So surely you can see how the Mesquite school district officials might have decided it wasn't worth pressing.

UPDATE: He resigned his position as president of the Texas High School Coaches Association, admitting he has a gambling problem. Duh.

Posted by T.G.

Staff
Verified User
Anonymous

wow, thats crazy

jjhunt Anonymous

1 year, 5 months ago
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(about not pressing charges). right, cause in Texas, highschool football is more important than the law..... [roll eyes]

Collin Gouldin Verified

1 year, 5 months ago
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My question is will the TEA let the district and the coach get away with it???

12ozfred Anonymous

1 year, 5 months ago
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Geez…How could he get away with it for over a year? Longview sure dodged that bullet – but just barely!

jtmbls Anonymous

1 year, 5 months ago
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I guess it depends on what stuff he was pawning; as long as he was buying most if it back pretty soon, he could just replace it in such a way that it looked misplaced.

What I wonder is what he was stealing, exactly - anything worth money should have had a big fat PROPERTY OF MESQUITE ISD sticker on it. Or at least a little one.

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 5 months ago
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Just replacing them again wasn't the solution to the problem, Pavel. WHO paid to replace them? Did the school issue additional funding for the replacements? WHO kept the money from the pawned items...the Coach to pay his gambling debts perhaps?

Good idea about the labeling of equipment...maybe something engraved as stickers peel off sometimes.

Kay Anonymous

1 year, 5 months ago
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Pavel - In the linked article it said that the coach took video cameras, digital cameras and laptop computers. Days later the items would “magically” reappear. One time he tried to blame another coach. It sounds like the crazy uncle in the basement syndrome. Everybody knows he’s not quite right but pretends like everything is perfectly normal.

jtmbls Anonymous

1 year, 5 months ago
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Kay - it said the coach rebought them, and it says it was only $2000 worth of stuff at a time. He still got paychecks - I assume he'd pawn something to gamble, lose it all - or maybe win some - wait for his next paycheck, and buy it back. Maybe remorse kept him at bay for a few weeks, and then he'd rinse and repeat.

Anyway, it sounds like everything kept coming back until the last time. I'm betting he didn't keep requisitioning school funds to buy this stuff back - if he could do that, he would just spend that money.

Then again, I don't know anything, and don't really care.

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 5 months ago
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At $92,000 a year, I'd suppose his next paycheck could always cover his pawn, like you said Pavel. I'd bet it was 'a winning streak' rather than remorse that kept him at bay for a few weeks at a time. I couldn't see where he'd be able to keep getting funds to replace missing equipment without drawing attention to the problem so it makes sense he got them out with his money later.