When “Clock Boy” Ahmed jets off to Qatar, he may leave his former Texas high school silenced from disclosing the details behind his September 14 arrest because the Mohamed family did not sign the school district’s waiver. Without it, the Irving Independent School District (ISD) remains muzzled from telling their side, burying the rest of the story.
The Dallas Morning News insisted the reason the Mohamed family never signed the waiver because Irving ISD sent the paperwork “to the wrong lawyer.” Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne suggested to the Dallas newspaper that an unresponsive Mohamed family was to blame.
Since September 14, the Mohamed family made time for press conferences, visits to the United Nations, a Muslim Brotherhood-linked Qatar Foundation sponsored Education City tour, a Saudi funded Mecca pilgrimage, a hug from Sudanese genocidal war crimes theocratic dictator Bashir, a terror-tied CAIR banquet, and Astronomy Night at the White House while the waiver remains unsigned and the clock-in-a-box sits at Irving police headquarters.
Breitbart Texas spoke to Irving Independent School District spokeswoman Lesley Weaver, who timelined events she could address to bring some context to an otherwise one-sided “Clock Boy” Islamophobia narrative fanned by mainstream media that dismissed the role that “safe school” and threat assessment “zero tolerance” policies played in Ahmed Mohamed’s woes, not bigotry.
On September 16, Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America Attorney Linda Moreno presented herself as Ahmed’s legal counsel at a press conference held on the front lawn of the Mohamed’s Irving home, which the Dallas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) hosted. In opening remarks to news media, CAIR’s Alia Salem introduced the “civil rights advocacy group” as “helping to get Ahmed’s story out.”
Salem said: “I’m here to introduce you to Ahmed Mohamed and his family and his legal representation.” At the 1:50 mark, Salem says: “I’m going to turn it over to Linda Moreno. She’s going to speak on behalf for legal counsel.” At the 2:15 mark, Moreno said: “I am an attorney and of counsel with the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America. And the family has asked the Center to represent the interests of Ahmed going forward.” She also said, “So we are committed to ensuring that Ahmed’s interests are protected.”
From this, Irving ISD understood Moreno represented the Mohamed family—as did news organizations and other entities worldwide like Getty Images, which captioned their press conference photos: “Attorney Linda Moreno Speaks to the media with her client Ahmed Mohamed and his family during a news conference on September 16, 2015 in Irving, Texas.” The Associated Press (AP) reported Moreno as “an attorney representing Ahmed.”
“Clock Boy” lawyer stories ran in the Los Angeles Times, Denver Post, Chicago Tribune, and Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News. CNN reported it and even the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NYSACDL) posted on Facebook: “Ahmed Mohamed’s attorney, Linda Moreno, is presenting at NYSACDL’s Federal Practice CLE next Friday! Register today.”
The next day, Irving ISD officials sent Moreno the waiver via certifed mail. Weaver explained to Breitbart Texas, “When a family indicates they have legal representation, it is customary for our attorney to work with their attorney.”
Moreno got it but told Tina Patel, Irving ISD’s attorney, she did not represent the family and did not speak with them since the press conference, Weaver told Breitbart Texas. Surprising news following the press conference.
Meanwhile, Mohamed uncle Aldean postured, telling the Dallas Morning News: “Why don’t they just send it to the house? They have the address on file.”
There was more, though. Weaver explained, “Every time we tried to meet with the family during the week of September 14, the family canceled.”
The Mohameds canceled meetings on September 15 and 16. Then, on September 17, MacArthur High officials contacted the family and rescheduled a meeting for September 18 at the high school, a meeting then moved to the district administration building at the family’s request. The Mohamed family no-showed.
On Sept. 21, the family finally met with district officials. Weaver cannot discuss the details until the family signs the waiver, a Consent for Release of Student Records, the district’s standard request form. On Sept. 22, the family withdrew Ahmed Mohamed from Irving ISD, according to Weaver. The teen was already at Google’s Northern California headquarters science fair.
On September 23, the family held another press conference, announcing Dallas lawyers Thomas Bowers, III and Reggie London joined the team. Irving ISD sent the same certified letter to the new attorneys on September 30. Breitbart Texas reached out to the new attorneys about the family’s reluctance to sign the waiver but our calls were not returned. To date, Irving ISD never received a signed release for student records from the family or their legal counsel, Weaver told Breitbart Texas.
The “waiver” narrative paralleled similar deceptive messaging that emerged when the Mohamed family spoke to media about the new lawyers, claiming they would retrieve Ahmed’s clock, insinuating that Irving police would not release it—but the clock-in-a-box was “not withheld,” Irving PD spokesman James McLellan told Breitbart Texas.
He reconfirmed that, since the week of September 14, officers attempted to reach the Mohameds directly and through Anthony Bond, a local activist and family friend who presented himself to law enforcement as a family representative.
Meanwhile, as the soon-to-be Qatari clock kid prepares to jet off to the Middle East, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an inquiry on the silenced school district’s handling of Ahmed’s arrest. Uber-liberal California U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, under investigation in the House for his own ethics violations, pushed the probe.
Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.
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