By Michele Mcphee
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief
Monday, July 2, 2007 - Updated: 04:14 AM EST
Crime, apparently, does pay.
At least it did for ex-con Derek Patrick, the Ella J. Baker house mentor who pleaded guilty to charges of sex for a fee last week. Patrick, who earned nearly $40,000 in taxpayer cash to work as a mentor at the Dorchester youth organization run by the Rev. Eugene Rivers III, was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl who was sent to the Baker House by the Department of Youth Services. The rape was alleged to have happened in the bathroom of the program’s church sanctuary on Jan. 5, 2006.
But Suffolk County prosecutors cut a plea deal with Patrick that keeps him out of jail and also wiped out a drug arrest in South Boston that came after he was released on bail. Patrick was fired by the Baker House last year, but lucky for him he can still earn a living - thanks to city taxpayers.
A Boston Police Department grant paid for Patrick to take DJ lessons at a cost to taxpayers of $1,550 for the training. The grant paid another $1,935 for Patrick’s fringe expenses, and another $8,423 for additional salary.
That’s all on top of what Patrick was earning as a yearly salary to work with other at-risk youth.
“I had to do what I do,” Patrick said yesterday. He said he is currently using his DJ skills in the private sector. “It is what it is. I want to get my life back together.”
Patrick has steadfastly denied raping the teen.
Patrick is not the only ex-con who was allegedly being paid by taxpayers while continuing a life of crime.
Former Baker House employee and twice-convicted killer Dennis Winborne - that’s right, convicted of TWO murders - was sentenced this year for shooting at Boston cops, a gun battle that erupted after he kidnapped a man at gunpoint.
Today, the Baker House has lost most of its private and public funding, the number of ex-gang bangers on the payroll hasdiminished, and Rivers is an infrequent presence at the Dorchester location.
Thinking about all the money, quite literally millions spent on salaries for ex-cons over the years, it makes me sad to think of all the school programs being cut across the state and the scaling back of many services.
There are anti-gang programs out there that work, like the Dorchester Youth Collaborative run by Emmett Folgert, who is professionally trained in helping kids, not committing crimes.
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