Gwinnett DA May Probe GCPS Land Deals

The Gwinnett County District Attorney said Thursday that he may do a preliminary investigation of some land purchases by the or see if a grand jury wants to look into the matter.

Danny Porter, the county's top prosecutor, said that news reports showing that GCPS deals that gave some developers large, quick profits -- as much as $1 million in one day, in one case -- might warrant a check of possible bribery.

"I'm considering my options," Porter said. "One is to open my own investigation. I was hoping the school system would open their own investigation, but it looks like they are not willing to do that."

He said another option is to "do nothing, but that is not viable." Porter also could ask the current grand jury to look into possible criminal misconduct, or ask a Superior Court judge to impanel a special grand jury.

Gwinnett school officials could not be reached Thursday for comment.

Porter would be looking at whether there was some type of collusion involving land developers to raise the price of the parcels that the system bought. That process likely would involve someone in the school system releasing information about possible land deals. Noting that such information theoretically could come from anyone in the system, Porter said it could be a matter of "where do I start."

The land-deals report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution also has prompted GCPS Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks to ask the Gwinnett school board to review the system's site aquisition policy. Currently, GCPS does not allow its five-member board to vote on individual land purchases. It allows Chief Operating Officer Jim Steele to buy the "most suitable" piece of land after he presents the board with three possible sites.

Wilbanks also has defended the system's policy in a special statement.

Porter said he will approach the 23-member grand jury next week to see if it is interested in investigating the matter.