Nearly a year since Pete Pompey was suspended from his Dunbar High School athletic posts because of alleged mishandling of funds, the Baltimore state's attorney's office soon will conclude its investigation of the matter.
The state's attorney then will decide whether to seek an indictment or drop the case.
"The review is still under way. I can't give any prediction on closure, although closure is imminent," state's attorney Stuart O. Simms said early this week.
On July 17, Pompey was placed on administrative leave from Dunbar and forced to vacate his posts as athletic director and coach of its football and basketball teams pending the outcome of the investigation.
The action stemmed from inquiries made into the handling of money from a Dunbar concession stand at Oriole Park of which Pompey was supervisor. (The Orioles permit nonprofit groups to use some concessions stands for fund-raising.) According to a source close to the investigation, it initially was believed that more than $70,000 was missing.
William H. Murphy Jr., Pompey's attorney, last week would not comment on the specifics of the case, and calls to Murphy's office this week were not returned.
Simms said this hasn't been an unusually long investigation.
"There have been many instances . . . which have taken a longer time than this one, because of the complexity of the items, the number of items to be examined and the nature of those items," Simms said. "Some have resulted in charges, some have not. But there shouldn't be a presumption for or against probable cause."
As basketball coach at Dunbar, Pompey guided one of the nation's top-ranked high school programs. In 1992, Dunbar finished 29-0 and was rated No. 1 by USA Today, which also picked Pompey as national high school basketball coach of the year.
For years, Dunbar basketball has been a point of pride in the East Baltimore community. Reggie Lewis, Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues, Reggie Williams, David Wingate and Sam Cassell have gone from Dunbar to the NBA. Poets regularly fill The Baltimore Sun's All-Metro teams and are coveted college recruits.
Since succeeding Bob Wade in 1986, Pompey has maintained the winning tradition. Pompey coached Cassell, who just concluded his rookie season as a key member of the NBA champion Houston Rockets, and Keith Booth and Donta Bright, starters at, respectively, Maryland and Massachusetts. But his coaching career was put on hold last July.
