Ohio State: Background check on janitor who shot 2 supervisors didn’t reveal criminal record

Ohio St: Check found no criminal past on shooter

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State University said Wednesday a background check on a janitor who shot two supervisors before killing himself didn’t reveal that he had a criminal record, raising more questions about how his past prison sentence was missed.

The school released a background report from September on Nathaniel Brown, 50, who police say entered a maintenance shop Tuesday morning and fatally shot a supervisor, injured another and then killed himself.

Brown, who was upset over his pending dismissal, spent about five years in prison in the 1970s and 1980s for receiving stolen property, according to court and prison records.

Ohio State said it hired an outside vendor, OPENonline LLC in Columbus, to conduct the background check. The report turned up no criminal records on Brown, who denied on his job application that he had been convicted of a crime.

Angela Bosworth, an executive vice president with OPENonline, said in a statement that the company is reviewing what happened and that Brown may have given Ohio State an incorrect birth date.

“Applicants with a criminal past have been known to provide incorrect date of birth information,” she said, but the problem could also be a data entry error.

Brown’s birth date is June 5, 1959, according to Ohio State records. It is listed as June 4, 1959, on various prison and court documents. His middle name, Alvin, is consistent on all records.

Most of Brown’s prison records were destroyed in 1994 — 10 years after his release, which is department policy, said state prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn.

A criminal conviction doesn’t necessarily disqualify job candidates from being hired at Ohio State. School policy allows managers to evaluate the nature of the crime and how long ago it occurred.

Police have not described a motive for the shooting, though campus Police Chief Paul Denton called it work-related. Brown, who also was fighting foreclosure on his house, appeared to be a man in crisis, Denton said.

It was also unclear where Brown got the two handguns used in the assault or if intended to target other employees.

Ohio State sent Brown a letter March 2, stating that his probationary employment would end Saturday because of poor performance. Supervisors complained he was tardy, slept on the job and had problems following instructions.

Employees who don’t make probation are allowed to stay through the end of a pay period, as long as there are no issues that would require an immediate dismissal — such as concerns about violence, theft or other behavioral issues, Ohio State spokesman Jim Lynch said.

The policy gives probationary workers a chance to finish work assignments and to draw a final paycheck, said Richard Murray, president of Communications Workers of America Local 4501, which represents custodial workers at Ohio State.

Brown’s personnel file doesn’t indicate if his bosses ever became aware of his criminal record after he was hired in October.

Brown was convicted in 1979 of receiving stolen property, which included stereo equipment and a CB radio, according to Stark County court records. He was initially released in 1980 but returned to prison a year later over allegations that he physically assaulted his girlfriend’s child, Walburn said.

Brown was not charged in the case, but the parole board concluded there was enough evidence that he violated terms of his parole, she said. The parole records are all that remain of his time in prison, and those are not public record, Walburn said.

Police on Tuesday found Brown with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a garage bay at the maintenance shop. He was pronounced dead at a campus hospital hours later.

One of Brown’s shooting victims, building services manager Larry Wallington, 48, died at the scene. The other, shift leader Henry Butler, 60, was in stable condition at Ohio State University Medical Center, officials said.

Butler’s son, Bryant Butler, said his father’s medical condition was improving and that he could leave the hospital as early as Wednesday. He expressed bewilderment over the shooting.

“If you lose your job, you lose your job. Don’t leave like that,” Bryant Butler told WSYX-TV in Columbus.