President of company accused of not paying employees misses court date

The president of the Durham-based company accused of not paying its employees missed her court date on Tuesday, and now a judge could issue an order for her arrest.

Kristen Picot, President of CJF America, was supposed to appear in the Durham County Courthouse Tuesday morning on two misdemeanor charges related to issuing worthless checks. 

Crystal Graves, the woman who brought the charges, was in court. Graves said she had to miss work at her new job at a local elementary school to attend the hearing.

"I had to find another job, like we all had to, and now we have to miss work to come to court dates," she said.

WRAL Investigates has reported extensively on CJF America and its employees' claims that they were not paid for work on summer camps around the state and beyond, and are owed thousands of dollars each. Employees from North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Maryland filed a lawsuit against the company and its executives. Court records show that lawsuit remains largely unserved, as Durham County deputies struggle to find the defendants. 

After Tuesday's court hearing, the assistant district attorney told WRAL Investigates it is likely a judge will issue an order for arrest for Picot since she missed her court date. 

Graves told WRAL she was not surprised Picot was not in attendance.

"When you intentionally do things to people who didn't deserve it, accountability can be a little difficult," she said. "I'm seeing that now they're just not going to hold themselves accountable."

Picot faces two additional misdemeanor charges for simple worthless checks pertaining to two other former employees. Online court records do not indicate a court date for those charges.

WRAL Investigates reached out to Picot to ask why she was not in court today. She has not yet replied. Last week, a CJF America spokesperson told WRAL she would be "happy" to schedule a sit-down interview with investigative reporter Sarah Krueger and Picot. Despite Krueger's multiple attempts to schedule that interview, it still has not come to fruition.

According to online court records, Picot is represented by attorney Eric Williams. Krueger reached out to Williams by email, asking why Picot did not show up to court, and asking if he had any comment on the charges against his client. He responded: "I have no comment."