It's now well known in Smithfield that Town Council President Stephen Archambault's two nephews and niece have been attending Smithfield public schools for the past eight years, despite living in Lincoln. This information has been confirmed by Smithfield's School Superintendent in information he provided to the Town Council.

We understand that these kids are not Archambault's. This is not about holding Archambault responsible for his family's misdeeds. This is a valid issue for two reasons.

First, Archambault himself must have known about this yet did nothing to prevent it or stop it. In fact, the chain of deed documents posted here indicate that he may have deliberately assisted in covering it up.

Second, once it became known, the Democrats on our Town Council refused to try to recover the substantial money which was essentially stolen from Smithfield's taxpayers and children. They chose to protect their fellow Democrat instead of protecting the taxpayers and schoolchildren of Smithfield.

The current rate of tuition for Smithfield schools for non-resident students, if they are even allowed to attend, is approximately $11,500.00 annually. The cost to the Smithfield tax payers of educating these three non-resident children has been approximately $220,000 total, or about $35.71 from each taxpaying household in Smithfield.

First, we have been provided evidence that Mr. Archambault actually has known about this violation during the entire past 8 years. His siblings, Mark and Leslie, have told us that he knew and provided documents and a voice mail recording, left by Stephen himself, that indicate he did know. Stephen Archambault has said publicly that he thought the “issue had been resolved” but he has not commented on how or why he thought that.

Second, once this fraud was discovered and ruled illegal by a state hearing board, the Town Council democrats voted not to seek to recover the money expended to educate these kids. The School Committee Democrats – to their credit – all voted with Republicans to urge the Council to pursue these funds. Despite this, Hawkins and Cerroni both voted not to pursue the money. Republicans Flynn and Manni voted to recover the money, but a 2 – 2 tie vote fails. Archambault was forced to recuse himself, since he is related to the kids.

Here are some facts and evidence:

Voice Mail Message - Stephen Archambault says "somebody turned Valerie in to the school department"

In September of 2007, Stephen Archambault left a voice mail message on his brother's cell phone. Because he was leaving a voice mail message, Archambault knew he was being recorded. This recording was obtained legally; no wiretapping of any type is involved.

In the message, Archambault clearly explained that someone "had turned Valerie [the mother of the children and Archambault's sister] in to the school department". This message was left nearly a year before the School Department learned of this violation, while Archambault was a member of Smithfield's Town Council. During this time, that family was involved in a property dispute and Stephen thought one of his other siblings, Leslie, had turned the kids in. Actually, at this point, no one had turned them in, but the coincidental presence of a police cruiser in the neighborhood made the family mistakenly think they had been caught. It was their knowledge that this was illegal that prompted their concern and this voice mail message.

Remember that Archambault recently said that he believe the residency issue had been resolved "long ago." That statement simply does not square with his language in the voice message, in which he used the phrase "turned in."

"Valerie" is also known as Ellen, and Archambault uses these names interchangeably in this message.

You can play the audio recording or read the transcript.

Quit-Claim Deed

These documents and their history make believing that Stephen Archambault didn't know very difficult. The explanation is a bit lengthy, but the documents seem to be part of a cover-up.

In October of 2000, Valerie Archambault, now Valerie Stockel, moved out of her Mother's house in Smithfield with her three children and into her new home. The new house was right next door, but it was across the town line in Lincoln. The family now resided in Lincoln.

Valerie wanted her children – Stephen Archamabult's nephews and niece – to continue to attend school in Smithfield. Therefor, that same month, the mother added Valerie to the deed of her Smithfield home. Compensation paid was $1.00. This deed was drafted by Timothy Robenhymer, Stephen Archambault's business partner. Robenhymer also had the mother, Roberta, sign a release. Valerie and her mother now owned this house together. None of the other heirs were added to the lease, only Valerie.

In September of 2007, Stephan Archambault authored another deed modification which returned exclusive ownership of the property to his mother but extended leaseholder rights to Valerie. These leaseholder rights were set to expire upon Valerie's youngest child reaching her 18th birthday. This deed was notarized by Tim Kane, a good friend of Stephen Archambault and Smithfield's current town attorney.

Finally, in January of 2008, Stephen Archambault purchased the entire property for $280,000. Again, Valerie was extended leaseholder rights until her youngest child became 18 years old. Again, none of the other heirs at law (Stephen's siblings) were given any leaseholder rights.

Okay, that's a pile of background, but how does this indite Stephen Archambault?

Because the documents were prepared by Stephen himself or his business partner, Tim Robenhymer, and one was notarized by Tim Kane, it is just not credible that Stephen Archambault did not know about these deeds. The fact that only Valerie was given joint ownership and/or extended leaseholder rights is odd. Combined with the fact that this happened immediately after Valerie moved out of Smithfield and that Valerie never moved her kids to Lincoln schools is too much of a coincidence.

But none of this was sufficient to entitle the kids to attend school in Smithfield. Merely owning property here is not enough. The students in our schools must actually reside here, as required by law. This is only enough to let someone claim "the issue has been resolved" when they have known better.

Will

In September of 2007, Stephen Archambault drafted a will for his Mother, which made identical provision as the above mentioned deed. Please refer to page 4 of this document.

The only reasonable explanation for granting temporary ownership rights to the mother of these kids, when these rights expire upon the youngest reaching the age of 18 years, is to provide some measure of “plausible denyability” to the parents if they were caught. Stephen Archambault brother and other sister have told us that this was the reason behind these documents.

Archambault lived in the same house for four years

Archambault knew that the kids were registered at his Mother's address, as evidenced by the voice mail, deeds and will. Sworn testimony from Mark Archambault, the Council President's brother, reveals that Stephen Archambault lived in the same house for four of these eight years. Certainly, he would have noticed if there were three kids also living in the house. Even after he moved out, his sister, Leslie, remained there through August of 2007 and has insisted that the kids did not live there while she did.

Also, Mark provided photographs, taken May 19th, 2008, of the inside of his mother's house. There is no indication whatsoever that any kids live in that house.

Proximity to their actual residence

These kids live right next door, a stones throw away from the Smithfield house but over town line in Lincoln. During the past eight years, the kids would simply get off the bus, walk to their grandmother's house and then cross through the backyard to their own home.

At the hearing, Valerie family told the state hearing officer that herself and her three children would be moving back into Smithfield, into the grandmother's home to care for her. Given the proximity of the two homes, this is completely unnecessary and is also implausible and unlikely. One has to wonder exactly what strings might have been pulled to get the state to allow these kids to return to Smithfield's schools under these circumstances.

Wrap Up

Taken together, this evidence convinces us that Archambault had full knowledge that these kids were in Smithfield's schools illegally.