Ohio State University Murder: Background Check Missed 5 Year Prison Term of Hired Killer

According to a published report in The Columbus Dispatch, a wrong birth date might have concealed that Nathaniel Brown, a custodian who killed his supervisor, shot and wounded another boss before shooting himself to death on March 9, 2010 had a criminal record. The report stated that he did 5 years of prison time for receiving stolen property but this was missed in the pre-employment background check.

This tragedy underscores once again the criticality of comprehensive background checks and hiring protocols which must include fingerprinting, social security numbers, department of motor vehicle reports, drug testing, previous employment verification, multiple interviews/staff approvals and document authenticity assessment of anyone that will have access to a school or campus community.

Excerpt reprinted from dispatch.com

A killer's lie missed
OSU wouldn't have hired Nathaniel Brown had
check revealed his past

Thursday, March 11, 2010

BY KATHY LYNN GRAY
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Brown answered "no" on his OSU job application to the question of whether he'd been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. Ohio prison records show he'd been in prison for five years, from July 1979 to March 1984, for receiving stolen property in Stark County.

OSU employment policy says job candidates who lie about criminal convictions won't be hired.

But OSU's background check on Brown didn't uncover his conviction.

Openonline, a records-research firm, completed a screening report on Brown for Ohio State before he was hired. The company checked Franklin County Common Pleas and Municipal courts and found no criminal records, its report shows.

The company, whose Columbus office is on Lake Shore Drive, also did what it calls a National One Report, which checks 524 criminal sources nationwide, according to the company Web site. That includes 308 county courts, 54 municipal courts and 52 sex- offender registries. The site does not list the courts covered.

In an e-mail response to questions yesterday, Angela Bosworth, the company's executive vice president, said it's possible the criminal record wasn't found because "there is a discrepancy between the date of birth reported by Mr. Brown and used for his pre- employment screening and the Department of Corrections record that has recently come to light."

Bosworth went on to say that "applicants with a criminal past have been known to provide incorrect date of birth information," which can cause errors in checks.

Bosworth couldn't be reached after the e-mail to ask whether applicants are checked other ways, such as by their Social Security number.