Defendant in multimillion-dollar Bibb schools lawsuit dies

Tom Tourand, the former technology director for the Bibb County school system and one of several defendants in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed last year by the school district, has died.

Tourand, 65, died July 2 at a Macon hospital.

The school district has alleged that Tourand, former school Superintendent Romain Dallemand, Progressive Consulting Technologies Inc. CEO Isaac Culver III and others participated in a series of fraudulent acts, racketeering, wire fraud and mail fraud while also violating school district policies before Dallemand’s 2013 departure. The allegations involve millions of dollars.

A federal grand jury indicted Culver and his business partner, Dave Carty, last month on fraud charges stemming from the 2012 sale of 15,000 NComputing devices to the school district.

The devices — virtual computer desktops — were delivered without key components necessary to make them functional, such as monitors and keyboards, according to the indictment.

Unusable, the devices have been stored in a school district warehouse since then.

Tourand sat for a deposition — testimony taken under oath before a trial begins — in May, according to a motion filed in federal court by Culver seeking to have the civil case delayed until the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

In a letter filed along with the motion, an attorney for the school district seemed to suggest that Tourand may have been ill, as he wrote that the May 24 deposition date “may need to be adjusted based on Mr. Tourand’s health and that of his attorney.”

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission revoked the educator licenses of Tourand and Dallemand in October 2014. Tourand requested an appeal, and the case was transferred to the attorney general’s office so a hearing could be scheduled before an administrative law judge, said John Grant, the commission’s assistant director of educator ethics and chief investigator.

When an educator dies during an investigation, the commission has “consistently” closed those administrative cases, he said. Katelyn McCreary, director of communications for the attorney general’s office, said the appeal file will also be closed.

Messages left for Tourand’s attorney and attorneys representing the Bibb County school district weren’t returned Tuesday.

This story was originally published July 11, 2017 at 10:37 AM with the headline "Defendant in multimillion-dollar Bibb schools lawsuit dies."