Stop-arm camera hardware and software originally developed by the now defunct Force Multiplier Solutions is now owned by BusPatrol America, to augment the company’s technology for a more robust solution available across North America.
just that last November. Rather than bail out DCSD, 58 percent of voters chose to end the agency after nearly 125 years in existence. Te Dissolution Committee for the former Board of
Trustees of DCSD filed a civil lawsuit on July 27 in the Dallas County District Court, seeking to reclaim $125 million from the perps who admitted to defrauding the district, through the bus stop-arm camera program and via a shady service center sale. In addition to suing the former company at the top of the scheme, Force Multiplier Solutions, the dissolution committee is suing Leonard and Sorrells. Both of them pleaded guilty to criminal charges earlier this year, as well as to charges of creating a host of shell corporations that were used to quietly move funds between them. When he pleaded guilty in April, Sorrells forfeited more than $12,000 in cash, a 2014 Maserati GHI and a 2012 Porsche Cayenne. Also relinquished was a custom-made, 14K-gold bracelet set with 51 princess cut diamonds that weighed 10.53 carats and was valued at more than $16,000.
Ten there was another problem. In order to cover mounting bus-arm camera debt, Sorrells sold four DCSD
bus service centers in February 2015 that had previously been owned free and clear by taxpayers. An affiliate of Force Multiplier Solutions bought the centers for $25 million—and DCSD leased the properties back at almost double their worth. Tat deal was brokered by named defendant Anrock
Realty Services. Not only did Anrock Realty Services share an address with Force Multiplier Solutions, but owner Slater Smartwood also ran Elf Marketing and Elf Investments, which channeled $2 million to Sorrells and received $198,000 from DCSD for consulting services. Smartwood also pleaded guilty in February 2018 to money laundering. While Sorrells’ attorneys did not respond to inquiries for comment, the plaintiff’s attorney gladly filled in the blanks. “What did Dallas County Schools do with the $25 million it received from selling this real estate? It put that money right back into its general fund, which had been depleted through the purchase of these stop-arm cam- eras,” said attorney Stephanie Curtis of the Dallas-based firm Curtis Castillo, which represents the dissolution committee.
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