Email Was Altered, According to Witness in John Freshwater Hearing

The following testimony took place between 9:14 A.M. and 9:49 A.M. on 12/29/09.

Former coach for Kenyon College, Ricky Warren, testified that an email used as an exhibit by the Mount Vernon Board of Education was altered. When shown a copy of the email prior to appearing at the hearing, Warren told John Freshwater’s attorney “[the email] looks a little screwy.”

The subject of the email was Warren speaking at the middle school for a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting. The message thread of the email included the prior email that was signed simply “Freshwater.”

Teachers that monitor FCA are supposed to leave the inviting of speakers to the students. Freshwater’s daughter, Jordan, previously testified that she was the one who invited Warren to speak at FCA.

Warren explained that the format of the email was not the way he normally writes. If he has been corresponding with someone for a while he does not include the recipient’s name at the top.

Another problem Warren saw was that the punctuation of the email doesn’t consistently follow the British style. Warren, who moved to the United States from Jamaica, has only spent the last nine years in the U.S.

In response to a question from Freshwater’s attorney, Kelly Hamilton, Warren agreed it looks like someone may have backspaced Jordan’s name off the end of the email.

The email also lacks Warren’s signature, which he said would be unusual for him to do.

Before moving to Connecticut, Warren attended church with Freshwater in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Warren said Freshwater mentioned on one occasion, at church, that his daughter Jordan wanted to speak with Warren—the extent of the discussion was that Jordan was shy about talking with Warren.

Warren reiterated that it was Jordan who invited him to speak at FCA. “The whole communication has been between me and her,” Warren said.

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Warren is a 2004 graduate of Mount Vernon Nazarene University—click here for photos from his time as a player for MVNU men’s soccer team.