Monday, May 08, 2017

Security leader MCPS didn't run background check on accused of sex with student...again

Montgomery County Public Schools superintendent Jack Smith's apparent giddiness over the shocking decision to drop charges against the two students accused in the alleged Rockville High School gang rape was short-lived, to say the least. Remember the Richard Montgomery High School "security team leader" MCPS didn't run a background check on before hiring him - and who was then arrested for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old female RMHS student? After being bailed out of jail quickly, Montgomery County police say he did it again.

Mark Christopher Yantsos was arrested Friday after a County judge revoked his bond. Police allege Yantsos defied orders to stay away from the student. Instead, they allege, he met with her several times since he was charged, and had sex with her once again.

Yantsos made headlines after it was revealed MCPS had hired him without doing a background check, which was proven by the fact that his previous run-in with the law - brandishing a revolver toward a woman he was trying to pick up at a topless bar - is easily called up in a simple Google search. Yet he was hired by MCPS to run security at Richard Montgomery. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

41 comments:

MDBGA said...

This is some great reporting! Please keep us updated on this story!

Roberts Mom said...

Nice job honey!

Anonymous said...

8:16 - LOL.

On another note, this is terrible. Prince George's County has some awful headline about this too.... DC as well. These teachers are just sleeping with the students. I think each school needs a counselor to whom students can report this stuff. Schools are becoming dangerous.

Anonymous said...

Excuse me... not just teachers but school employees. Most of the teachers seem to be laying off the kids. Sorry. I think it's most support staff but still. WTH?!

Anonymous said...

In your headline, you a word out.

Anonymous said...

@8:44AM I think it needs a comma between *on* and *accused*. :)

Robert Dyer said...

8:44: You may be misreading it - Security leader / MCPS didn't run background check on / accused of sex with student / again

Anonymous said...

How was Jack Smith "giddy", and how was the decision to drop charges "shocking" to anyone who actually understands how our American legal system works?

Robert Dyer said...

9:02: Did you see his smile during the press conference? It was "shocking" if you believe the police professionals who gathered forensic evidence at the crime scene. The police said it was a slam dunk case, a violent assault. Surely the medical exam reflected that. I didn't hear any specifics on those at the press conference, nor did I hear whether the victim agrees with the prosecutor's decision, has recanted, or...?

These details are important. Also really bad idea to have Leggett and Smith there. The judicial system is supposed to be independent of the executive. The optics are that open borders Leggett and Smith have some influence in this. SA and prosecutors should appear by themselves, and let the politicians talk later to the media. Just a terrible implication to make it a team. They're not on the team, so don't make it look like they are.

Anonymous said...

What happens with the bond? He put up property to secure the bond, so does the county/state get to seize that now?

Anonymous said...

"You can't make this stuff up, folks."

Except you just did.

1. the guy's name is Mark, not Michael.
2. he did pass a criminal background check in 2007.

"A simple Google search" gives me both of those facts.

Anonymous said...

9:18 - He is in custody now. "Revoking bond" simply means that he is now ineligible for release on bond following his second arrest. The property would have only been forfeited if he had become a fugitive after being released after his previous arrest.

Anonymous said...

Is this blog kept in Pacific Time as an honor to Reimer?

Anonymous said...

"Also really bad idea to have Leggett and Smith there. The judicial system is supposed to be independent of the executive."

The County Executive and the head of the MoCoPS can't attend a trial related to an incident that happened in a MoCo public school?

That's nonsensical.

Robert Dyer said...

9:23: He did not pass an MCPS background check, because even the most amateur one would have quickly uncovered the gun incident, and he would never have been hired.

Your claim that you can read internal personnel records using Google search is laughable.

Robert Dyer said...

10:54: They can attend, although it would be quite odd and unusual if they did. What they certainly should not do, is appear with the State's Attorney and prosecutors. They have absolutely nothing to do with that office, and their appearance sends the wrong message that they do have some role or influence on it.

Anonymous said...

MCPS has repeatedly and openly discussed that there was a background check done in 2007. Maybe you should read your competition so you don't come across as uneducated, Robert.

Anonymous said...

You sir, just won the Internet. I'm also guessing that if Dyer wasn't so insulting and nasty, you'd have let him know his competition is publishing facts and better researched in a nicer way.

Anonymous said...

Not only does RockvilleNutz have time stamps showing the correct time zone, but it has more comprehensible headlines as well:

"Montgomery HS security leader arrested for having sex with student...again"

Anonymous said...

Cut his balls off..

Anonymous said...

Dyer, why do you keep denying that there was a background check? There was one - but it missed a charge that happened 13 years prior, in a different state, and which did not result in a conviction.

This is not "reading internal personnel records by Google". As @ 11:54 noted above, this has been openly discussed by the MCPS since it became known shortly after the first arrest, and published in local news media.

Your inability to accept any challenges to your "facts" once you have made up your mind what they are, is infantile.

Anonymous said...

I come from Guatemala husband and girl daughter and 2 boys sons of mine I am years 38
We leave bc rape and drugs don't want girls boys near bad people's gangs
Scared for kidz
We wait 5 years get in backs line to swear to flag of USA and say citizens
We mad at people's who come without waiting obey law of USA
I saw this news I talk to news man
Please read we like trump we no want the bad people left here
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/us/legal-immigrants-who-oppose-illegal-immigration.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

Anonymous said...

Worst attempt at pidgin English, ever.

Robert Dyer said...

Believing MCPS' lie that they did a background check at face value is not journalism. Journalism demands a fact=based approach, and a skeptical mind. Any idiot can confirm no background check was done if a gun charge - in NYC, of all places! - wasn't easily uncovered in any basic background check.

Then, maybe assume some joker did an amateur background check via Google search - within 30 seconds, they would have found the gun charge, and he would never have been hired by MCPS.

Use common sense, and you'll get pretty far. I understand the small and slightly-failing magazine is the house organ for the MoCo cartel, and therefore isn't allowed to use common sense. That doesn't mean you can't.

Anonymous said...

A skeptical mind and a fact-based approach...
So you can chuck it all out the window and use your opinion and your paranoid assumptions.

This kind of propaganda is how the United Citizen Federation got going in Starship Troopers

Anonymous said...

I'm confused. I keep reading that MCPs did do a background check. But now Dyer says they didn't?

MDBGA said...

Dyer is reporting the facts on the case, the other reporters have been reporting what the council wants you to hear. The council is able to control every major news outlet, which is why I have been forced to turn to Robert's blog. Thank you for your hard work Robert! It does not go unappreciated.

Anonymous said...

Robert is NOT reporting the facts.

There WAS indeed a background check. You not liking the results doesn't change the facts.
Exaggeration of the facts does not help with the prosecution of the case(s.)

Anonymous said...

Robert is clearly reporting the facts. If you don't believe, go down to Woodmont Avenue and see if Tastee Diner is there.

Anonymous said...

7:16AM "council is able to control every major news outlet,"
The Washington Post break room is still laughing 24 hours later. Good One!

This is much better than your Poppy character. The satire is more subtle.

Robert Dyer said...

7:51: No, there was not a background check. And the beauty of it is, we have proof there was no background check, because a background check of the simplest order would have immediately uncovered the gun charge in New York.

It's embarrassing that other media outlets are so easily fooled. It's why they believed Pizza Pass, Bethesda Barbecue Co. and Quincy's weren't closing. Journalism 101: Just because someone tells you something, it doesn't mean it's true. It's great to have a quote. But if the person you are quoting is lying, the quote is worthless. Use judgement and critical thinking to get to the bottom of a story.

4:11: Have you read an expose on Hans Riemer's donations from out-of-state Wall Street crooks and their K Street lobbyists in any local media outlet (besides mine)?

Anonymous said...

@5:07AM No, I'm interested in the truth, not wild speculation. Competent people can investigate the same thing and have a different conclusion. It doesn't add up to any type of criminal behavior.

Just because you don't like the answer, does not mean it wasn't done. You need to dig deeper or find better sources. There was indeed a background check run. That's a fact, that doesn't change on your whim or your opinion.

Are you implying that the technology and results of background checks hasn't changed in 10 years? Pshaw.

Exaggeration of the facts does not help with the prosecution of the case(s.)
I can't imagine that's your intent.

Love and bacon, 7:51 and 4:11.

Robert Dyer said...

6:14: What kind of background check doesn't turn up a gun charge, especially one that pops up in seconds in a Google search? We've caught them dead-to-rights on this - no background check for a security leader. Humiliating.

Anonymous said...

Dyer, it's obvious that you've never worked in any kind of organization. Background checks frequently miss important information.

In this case, it was an incident that happened 13 years prior, in another state, and which did not result in a conviction.

Robert Dyer said...

6:52: Basic background checks don't miss gun charges in New York City. We got 'em on this one. Are your kids safe at MCPS? In short, no.

Anonymous said...

You are doing a 2017 google search and wondering why they didn't get the same results over 10 years ago? Well, DUH.

Technology has improved a bit over the years, don't you agree?

There was indeed a background check run. That's a fact, that doesn't change on your whim or your opinion. If needed it will be presented at trial.

Robert Dyer said...

7:41: A background check for a security position in 1985 would have turned up a gun charge. No Google necessary.

Anonymous said...

1985? Laughable. There's less holes in swiss cheese than in your statement.

Here are the facts:
1) There was an actual background check done.

2) You *think* it should have turned up more than it did.

End of story. You can postulate all you want. It doesn't change the facts.

Exaggeration of the facts only helps the defense.

Robert Dyer said...

8:07: Ask any longtime FBI agent, or security professional, and he or she will tell you I'm correct.

Anonymous said...

"Are your kids safe?"

#HideYoKidz

Anonymous said...

8:16AM I did that, I asked someone who works "in Arlington." Wink-wink, nudge-nudge. He wasn't surprised when I laid out the facts. It turns out systems don''t work as well as we think they do. He recommended Malcolm Nance's book "The Plot to Hack America." I haven't read it yet, still reading Kevin Kruse's One Nation Under God.