Port Richmond High School Principal Oneatha Swinton is Arrested in Pennsylvania

Oneatha Swinton has many complaints against her from various groups in New York City. The NYC Department of Education has turned a deaf ear.

Now, Swinton has been arrested, and the animosity towards her is validated. No argument can be made that she is a role model for our young people. This seems, in our opinion, to be another case of public rights and child welfare being ignored by the Department.

Time for Swinton to be fired, permanently.

Betsy Combier
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Oneatha Swinton

Staten Island principal busted for role in auto insurance scam

https://nypost.com/2018/06/23/staten-island-principal-busted-for-role-in-auto-insurance-scam/

By Mary Kay Linge and Susan Edelman, June 23, 2018

A Staten Island principal has been arrested and charged with felony insurance fraud for registering her luxury cars at the Pennsylvania home of a city vendor, a scheme first exposed by The Post.

Oneatha Swinton, the interim acting principal of Port Richmond HS, was charged with four counts of insurance fraud, theft by deception and criminal conspiracy by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office.

In addition, Tanya John, a former city principal, was charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy for allegedly helping Swinton get cheaper car insurance, the office announced.

Since the Post reported the alleged scheme last November, Port Richmond parents, staffers and students have complained about her management. On Friday, a group of school leaders sent a letter to Chancellor Richard Carranza demanding her “immediate removal.”

Swinton, 39, lives and works on Staten Island, but in 2014 obtained a Pennsylvania driver’s license and registered a Lexus SUV, later replaced with a newer model Lexus, using John’s East Stroudsburg, PA, address, the criminal complaint states.

The complaint says Swinton saved about $3,000 in car insurance premiums, because rates are much steeper in NYC than in rural East Stroudsburg. In addition, she filed two claims for damages in New York, costing the insurer $2, 247.

John, 44, was CEO of Feetz LLC, which was hired by Swinton to tutor students and run “character development” programs. Feetz has collected at least $1.3 million from DOE schools since 2012.

“These two defendants concocted a plan to fraudulently obtain lower insurance rates,” Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro said in a press release. “When people commit insurance fraud, it causes premiums to rise for the folks who follow the rules. ”

Swinton and John turned themselves in and appeared in Monroe County court on Thursday. Both were released on $5,000 bail, pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 15.

Swinton, confronted by a Post reporter at the school Friday, refused to comment. John, reached by phone, also refused to comment.

Investigators with the Pennsylvania AG found that John put her energy bill in Swinton’s name for three months, from April to June 2014, so Swinton could show it as proof of residency to obtain a driver’s license.

Swinton then bought car insurance using her fraudulent Pennsylvania license and registration, the AG says. She later filed two claims for losses in New York City, with repairs done in Brooklyn.

In the first claim, on Sept. 13, 2016, Swinton reported her car was struck in a hit-and-run fender-bender while it was parked near her Staten Island home. In the second claim, on Sept. 26, 2016, Swinton reported that her car was vandalized in Brooklyn –“keyed” on the driver’s side and a mirror damaged.

When Swinton learned of the AG investigation in December 2017, officials said, she tried to cover her tracks by getting a New York driver’s license that listed her own Staten Island address, and changed the registration of her Lexus to New York State.

Tanya John’s Feetz worked for the Secondary School for Law in Brooklyn, where Swinton was formerly principal. After joining Port Richmond last year, Swinton planned to hire Feetz again, insiders said.

Feetz’s website boasts n endorsement by Swinton, saying “Teamwork really does make the Dreamwork!”

The DOE has refused to appoint other qualified candidates as the permanent principal while Swinton is still under scrutiny by the city Department of Investigation. She will remain interim principal “while we review the charges,” a DOE spokesman said.

Oneatha Swinton

Oneatha Swinton has many complaints against her from various groups in New York City. The NYC Department of Education have turned a deaf ear.

Now, Swinton has been arrested, and the animosity towards her is validated. This seems, in our opinion, to be another case of public rights and child welfare being ignored by the Department.
Time for Swinton to be fired, permanently.

Staten Island principal busted for insurance fraud

By BEN CHAPMAN, GRAHAM RAYMAN and ESHA RAY

A Staten Island high school principal was busted for lying about where she lives to save on car insurance, prosecutors said Friday.

Oneatha Swinton, who is the acting principal at Port Richmond High School, illegally applied for a Pennsylvania driver’s license in May 2014 using a former Department of Education contractor’s address, the Keystone state attorney general’s office said. Swinton, 39, immediately registered her Lexus RX350 in the state using the bogus license, then did it again in December 2016 for a Lexus NX, authorities said. 

She also filed two insurance claims — one for a hit-and-run in Brooklyn and another for vandalism on Staten Island — using the out-of-state ID, prosecutors said.

Once Swinton, who lives on Staten Island, realized she was being investigated, she allegedly switched her license to New York and changed her car registration in December 2017.

She turned herself in to Pennsylvania authorities Thursday. Her accomplice and former DOE colleague, Tanya John, 44, also surrendered to cops, prosecutors said.

Swinton is charged with insurance fraud, theft by deception and criminal conspiracy. John is also slapped with insurance fraud and conspiracy charges, authorities said.

Both women were arraigned and released on $5,000 bail.

Swinton has been with the Department of Education since 2000, moving up the ranks from substitute teacher to principal at a Brooklyn high school before landing at Port Richmond last July. She makes $161,871 a year, the DOE said.

Port Richmond High School

“She will remain as interim acting principal at the school while we review the charges,” said department spokesman Doug Cohen. “We treat these matters with the utmost seriousness and will ensure it’s appropriately addressed.”

Parents from the School Leadership Team denounced that decision Friday and called for her “immediate removal.”

“Port Richmond High School and its students deserve the best possible principal — today. The SLT has recommended three excellent candidates; one of them should be chosen for this position immediately,” they wrote in a letter to DOE Chancellor Richard Carranza.

John is the owner of Feetz, LLC, a company that specializes in “creating personal and academic transformation within school communities,” according to its website.

The site includes a rave review from Swinton.

“For 3 years I struggled with credit accumulation. Working with Tanya John and her expertise in strategic planning, we were able to increase the school wide passing rate from 72% to 85%. Teamwork really does make the Dreamwork!”

Neither women returned requests for comment.

Principal will still hand out diplomas days after fraud arrest

The principal of a Staten Island school was arrested and charged last week for interstate car insurance fraud.

by Lyle Adriano, Insurance Business, 25 Jun 2018

Interim acting principal of Port Richmond High School Oneatha Swinton, 39, was charged with four counts of insurance fraud, theft by deception, and criminal conspiracy, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Tanya John, a former city principal believed to be an accomplice of Swinton, was also charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy for allegedly helping Swinton get cheaper car insurance.

“These two defendants concocted a plan to fraudulently obtain lower insurance rates,” Shapiro said in a release. “When people commit insurance fraud, it causes premiums to rise for the folks who follow the rules.”

Authorities said that, in May 2014, Swinton used John’s East Stroudsburg, PA, address to obtain a Pennsylvania driver’s license. Under the fraudulent license, Swinton had registered two Lexus cars and saved about $3,000 in car insurance premiums – this was because insurance rates are much steeper in NYC than in a rural neighborhood such as East Stroudsburg.

On top of avoiding insurance premiums, Swinton also filed two claims for damages in New York, which cost her insurer $2,247.

At the time of the conspiracy John, 44, was CEO of Feetz LLC – a company hired by Swinton to tutor her students.

New York Post reported that both Swinton and John turned themselves in and appeared in Monroe County court last week. The two were released on $5,000 bail, pending a preliminary hearing set for August 15, 2018.