The Wyandanch Public Library has incurred expenses totaling $100,068 for the salary and legal costs associated with the case of Kwaisi McCorvey, a former janitor, following his arrest on charges of rape last February, as revealed by records obtained by Newsday.
The breakdown of these costs, disclosed by the library in response to requests under the Freedom of Information Law, indicates that McCorvey received $62,327 in salary up until his dismissal on March 4. This dismissal came nearly six months after he entered a guilty plea for rape and over a year following his arrest.
Up to last week, the billing records show that $16,861 was spent on McCorvey’s termination hearing and related legal advice. Additionally, the library has paid $20,880 in legal fees in relation to a civil lawsuit filed last year by the rape victim against McCorvey and the library officials.
McCorvey, 52, from Farmingdale, was not available for comments. Shawn Cullinane, the library’s general counsel, defended how the library managed McCorvey’s termination.
However, some residents of Wyandanch criticized the library officials for the delayed firing of McCorvey and the substantial amount of money spent on his salary and legal fees during this period. A public policy expert suggested that the library board could have initiated disciplinary actions against McCorvey as early as 2021.
A confidential memo from 2021 revealed that McCorvey continued working for at least 17 months after the library officials were made aware of accusations against him for previously engaging in sexual activities with a minor within the library premises, as reported by Newsday last year.
In September 2021, a young woman, without revealing her identity, reported to the library’s director that McCorvey had sexual encounters with her inside the library when she was underage.
This woman was the same individual McCorvey admitted to raping in North Amityville in 2016, when she was 16 years old. Newsday has chosen not to identify her as she is a victim of sexual assault.
The library board placed McCorvey on paid suspension on February 9, 2023, a week after his arrest. He remained on the payroll until the board decided to suspend him without pay starting December 8.
According to Civil Service law, as explained by Kevin Verbesey, director of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, an employee can only be suspended without pay for 30 days.
The library reinstated McCorvey on the payroll in January but removed him again on February 6 after he postponed a disciplinary hearing twice. McCorvey had also objected to certain library officials participating in the hearing, as stated by Cullinane.
On February 23, a hearing took place, and the library’s treasurer, acting as the hearing officer, determined that McCorvey should be terminated due to “misconduct as an employee of the library.” The board terminated his employment more than a week later, after he had served for over 15 years.
Several Wyandanch residents expressed in interviews that McCorvey’s firing was overdue.
“He pleaded guilty to the charges, they should have acted immediately,” said Felice Holder, a 63-year-old local resident and library patron, referring to the nearly six-month gap between McCorvey’s conviction and his termination.
Holder described the expenditure on McCorvey’s salary and legal fees as “ridiculous” and suggested that the funds could have been allocated to better uses.
“That’s squandering taxpayer money,” the Wyandanch resident added. “The money spent on him could have been invested in the library.”
McCorvey was receiving a salary while on paid suspension for several months as the library faced the possibility of losing public funding for failing to meet the state’s minimum standards, which risked the suspension of the facility’s registration.
In October, the state warned that the library was not meeting several standards. However, a state education spokesperson recently stated in an email that the library is “making progress” towards meeting those standards and that state officials will regularly meet with library board members to ensure compliance.
McCorvey, with a base salary of $65,494, was consistently among the highest-paid employees of the library due to overtime, earning up to $158,000 a year, according to payroll records.
Helisse Palmore, a 50-year-old Wyandanch resident and library patron, expressed relief that the library board fired McCorvey but criticized the lengthy process.
“Yes, he’s entitled to due process, but they took their time, showing no urgency,” she remarked. “It’s just appalling.”
Palmore pointed out that library officials could have acted in 2021 when the confidential memo revealed they were aware of sexual misconduct allegations against McCorvey.
From the time of the memo until his arrest, records indicate that McCorvey received $123,694 in salary.
“Everything done from February of last year when he was arrested until now could have been initiated when they were notified in 2021,” Palmore added.
Ken Girardin, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany-based think tank, mentioned that the library could have started a disciplinary hearing in 2021 after the young woman approached the library’s director.
“If someone reports that your employee, while on duty, did this, you can address it,” Girardin explained, referring to Civil Service procedures. “They could have acted immediately.”
McCorvey has not been charged in connection with any alleged sexual assaults in the library. However, in July, the victim McCorvey confessed to raping in North Amityville in 2016 filed a $30 million notice of claim against him and the library.
The claim accused McCorvey of having sexual encounters with her in the library from 2016 to 2018, beginning when she was 16. It also alleged that several former and current library trustees were aware or should have been aware of the abuse but failed to take action.
Monte Malik Chandler, the plaintiff’s attorney, stated that he followed up the notice of claim by filing a lawsuit against the involved parties in September.
An August court order revealed that a judge sealed the proceedings related to the civil matter at Chandler’s request.
Peter Prisco, the attorney representing the library in the lawsuit, did not respond to requests for comments.
Cullinane, the library’s general counsel, mentioned he could not discuss actions taken in 2021 before he was hired by the library officials, but he defended the institution’s process regarding the timing of McCorvey’s termination after his arrest.
“The library did what it could as quickly as possible based on New York State Civil Service law,” he stated. “Whether we like it or not, employees have certain rights, and we had to respect those rights and follow the correct procedure.”
Cullinane highlighted the board’s decision to suspend McCorvey with pay a week after his arrest as evidence of prompt action.
“That was the most crucial step,” the attorney said. “It wasn’t about the money at that point. It was about protecting the library, its patrons, especially the children. So, if there was a risk of him posing a threat to people, that was addressed immediately.”
Girardin noted that the section of Civil Service law detailing disciplinary procedures serves as a protection for taxpayers as well as employees, offering a fair and transparent process for employee termination.
“However, it’s a situation where you’re either fully committed or not,” the public policy expert added. “And it appears that in this case, the library wasn’t fully committed.”