FROM STAFF REPORTS
Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education member Mike Kubiniec was served with a criminal summons charging him with misdemeanor stalking on Wednesday.
A magistrate issued the summons on Friday after I-SS board member Abby Trent made a sworn statement alleging that Kubiniec had repeatedly driven by the home where she is living, pulled into the driveway and took photos of the house and Trent’s car, sent her mail with tracking information, and contacted family members in an effort to get personal information to defame her.
An Iredell County Sheriff’s Office deputy served Kubiniec with the stalking summons at his home on Wednesday. Kubiniec, who lives in Mooresville, was ordered to appear in Iredell County District Court on January 19.
Trent, who is in the third trimester of an at-risk pregnancy, has also filed petitions seeking a no-contact order for stalking against Kubiniec and Micah Phelps, a Statesville resident who previously identified himself as Kubiniec’s campaign manager. In early October, Trent’s mother received a text message from Phelps warning her to prepare for anarchy. “Joshua and Caleb are coming jezzebelle, and they are going to rain fire and brimstone over your nasty wicked self.”
Court hearings on Trent’s requests for no-contact orders are scheduled for November 30.
“Since the board voted on October 9 to remove Michael Kubiniec as vice chair, I have been targeted, harassed and stalked,” Trent said on Monday. “This behavior has added additional stress to me and the baby. I have had to have additional testing and monitoring due to the actions” of Kubiniec and others.
“No one should treated the way that I have been over the last 30 days,” she added.
Kubiniec, who was elected to represent I-SS District 5 in November of 2022, was ousted as vice chairman of the I-SS Board by fellow board members in October and faces a likely censure vote in December.
Chairman Bill Howell has spearheaded both of those efforts as a result of complaints he has received from district employees about the way Kubiniec has treated them. Howell has also publicly accused Kubiniec of violating district policies and exceeding his authority as a board member.
I-SS Board members are also expected to ask their attorney to oversee an investigation into whether Kubiniec, board member Anita Kurn and others have attempted to question, coerce or intimidate the employees who filed complaints about Kubiniec with the board chairman, multiple sources told Iredell Free News. During the November board meeting, Kubiniec said he had investigated the complaints against him and determined they were without merit.
At the same meeting, Kubiniec and Kurn began an effort to have Trent removed from the I-SS Board on the grounds that she had moved out of the district she represents. Trent notified I-SS officials that she moved in August, but said the move was temporary because the home needs repair work.
The Iredell County Board of Elections will hold an evidentiary hearing on December 1 to determine if Trent has permanently moved out of her voting precinct.
I didn’t think the school board politics could get dirtier. Boy was I wrong.
I see this legal action as an attempt to sway the decision of the Board of Elections members who will participate in an upcoming hearing to decide whether Abby Trent remains qualified to vote on the school board. Having changed her residence several months ago to one outside the district she represents, she may have invalidated every vote she has made on the school board since that date, including her vote to remove Mr. Kubiniec from his vice-chairman position. Chairman Howell will certainly be outraged.
The question of whether any action Kubiniec has been accused of actually took place and constitutes stalking will be adjudicated only after the next school board meeting where there is sure to be some verbal fireworks between the two polarized factions.
Edward and Paula Mimnaugh
So if your wife was a school board member and was being stalked, are you suggesting you would do nothing? You’re not keeping up with the facts. Abby isn’t the only one bringing attention to Mr. K’s behavior. There are also school administrators, teachers, the superintendent and other board members saying the same thing! How can you possibly suggest this legal recourse has anything to do with the Board of Elections hearing? 🤦
“She may have invalidated every vote she has made on the school board since that date, including her vote to remove Mr. Kubiniec from his Vice-chairman position”. What??? Please explain how in the world that makes any sense. Did the puppet master type this up for you?
What I find interesting Mr & Mrs ( aka Phelps puppets ) is that the board including Kubiniec & Kurn knew Trent had moved temporarily back in August yet nothing was said until November. Why is that? Maybe because Trent voted with three others to remove Kubiniec as vice chair?
Mr Mimnaugh: I have to disagree with your comment. I do not see the legal action as a distraction. The allegations against Kubiniec must have some merit to be sent to the sheriff’s office and the courts for a hearing to be scheduled.
Ed the only on that is dirty is Captain Krazy. Stalking that poor girl is just creepy, not to mention illegal.
He and his campaign manager need to pack their bags. They are done with politics in Iredell County.
Bart, It remains to be determined whether a drive-by or online and mail investigation constitutes stalking. I guess it depends which side you might be on. The way I look at it is Mike Kubiniec wanted to carefully gather evidence before he made any accusation about Trent’s residence.
Mr. Mimnaugh, if you read the article, not only did Kubiniec do that, but he ALSO reached out to her family members in order to obtain personal information on her and I assume her whereabouts. That’s just plain creepy and screams stalker. I’ve never seen a group of older folks this obsessed with someone well over half their age. It sounds like you all as well as the few on the board need to find a better hobby!
Why not turn the issue over to the sheriff’s office and let them conduct an investigation?
If Ms. Trent was going to move back after the repairs, then why was the home listed for sale? Why did she need to add her name to the deed later in the same week the issue was brought up in the meeting? Was the “mail with tracking information” a certified letter requiring a signature mailed to her residence of record only to be forwarded to her new home?
It’s interesting to note that, according to NC general statute 163-86(b), the board of elections “shall mail by first-class mail a written notice of the challenge to the challenged voter, to the voter listed in the registration records of the county.” This was to be done at least 10 days prior to Trent’s hearing on Dec. 1st. I’m wondering if this will be certified and tracked? It likely will be. This isn’t any different than Kubiniec mailing his packet of supposed evidence and his written response to it. I would think any sensitive mail would want to be tracked for delivery.
It’s time to move on from Micah Phelps and his mommy. They have no influence and are nonfactors. His coalition is extremely fractured. No one except Kubiniec, Sloan and Kurn want anything to do with him.
That these people were voted in over highly qualified experienced people just boggles the mind.
The children of Iredell County deserve so much better.
I totally agree Mark. The district’s children and staff deserve so much better. I really hope voters remember all of this nonsense when election time rolls around again.
It’s a symptom of a much larger disease that ails our nation.