A convicted murderer now in prison again on drug and weapons smuggling charges was hired by a nonprofit to help de-escalate gang conflicts at a Baltimore alternative school, officials confirm, though the extent of his involvement is unclear.
Rainbow Lee Williams, who federal prosecutors say is a top lieutenant in the Black Guerrilla Family gang, was released from prison on a murder charge in September. From October to January, he worked sporadically at Achievement Academy at Harbor City High, a school for students with severe behavioral or academic problems, through nonprofit Partners In Progress.
Bridget Alston-Smith, the nonprofit's executive director, said she was aware of Williams' background but believed he had reformed himself. She said she was "devastated" to learn that he was indicted again last month.
"Rainbow came to us because he said, 'I want to help young people get their lives together because I've been there, done that,' " she said. Williams went with her into the school and then followed up in the community, she said.
The city school system requires criminal background checks for all employees and volunteers left unsupervised with students, which officials say Williams was not. Until recently, contractors such as Partners In Progress screened the workers they brought into schools, but the system will now do those checks, said spokesman Michael Sarbanes.
Partners In Progress has contracts through the Family League at Northwestern High and Rognel Heights Elementary/Middle. At Harbor City, its work was pro bono. Alston-Smith said she paid Williams a stipend. "It might have been $200 here, $300 here," she said.
It is unclear how often Williams was in the school. Sarbanes said Alston-Smith told him Williams was there only about five times. But Williams' court-appointed attorney, Gerald Ruter, told a court that Williams worked four days a week for $1,200 a month, City Paper reported. Ruter, too, said he got his information from Alston-Smith. She said the attorney exaggerated to make his client look good. She told The Baltimore Sun that she would call on Williams up to three times a week for school and community work, but some weeks didn't use him at all.
Court documents say Williams held a BGF meeting at Druid Hill Park on April 13 that attracted at least 100 members. Police broke up the meeting, recovering a handgun and multiple copies of The Black Book empowerment guide written by the gang's leader.
City Paper reported that Assistant U.S. Attorney James Wallner told a judge Williams was in possession of ammunition for a .357-caliber firearm when he was arrested last month. Harbor City has a metal detector, and Alston-Smith said Williams was required to pass through it before entering.
