Police are investigating claims the youth charity trust Bangerz attempted to illegally access the Kelston Boys High School computer network.
The Bangerz Education and Wellbeing Trust previously made headlines after it launched a takeover bid to convert the prominent Auckland state school into a charter school. It withdrew its application last month due to mounting public opposition.
Former and current senior staff have now told 1News the school filed a complaint about the trust to police in August. It's alleged that a 20-year-old member connected to the trust used an existing student’s login to obtain access to the student portal - aiming to obtain the school roll and students’ contact school email addresses.
Detective Senior Sergeant Ryan Bunting confirmed a complaint has been lodged. “The complaint concerned the offence of dishonestly accessing a computer system. The matter is under investigation, and we are unable to comment further on specifics at this time,” he said in a statement.
In the weeks leading up to the school finding out about the alleged incident, it is claimed people connected to Bangerz requested access to the school’s electoral roll several times.
Documents obtained by 1News show the trust’s 21-year-old chairperson, James Cherrington-Thomas, wrote to the school on July 14 requesting to “inspect the [election] roll” prior to upcoming board elections.
Legally, the election roll must be available for inspection at the school at any reasonable time before election day and must include names of every person entitled to vote in the board election, but not contact details.
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On July 31, another email was sent to New Lynn MP Paulo Garcia’s office by the trust, challenging the school limiting access to its election roll by only allowing it to check for names, but not take any notes or information from it. It is not clear who wrote and sent the email as the writer begins and signs off with different names, including two recent former Kelston Boys students.
The email address itself is connected to Rhys Cullen, one of the trust’s main tutors, who is known by the students as “the Doc” because he used to be one. He was a GP until he had his licence removed in 2007 for professional misconduct.
He also has a criminal record. In 2009, he was convicted of receiving 15 stolen cars after establishing a scrap metal business.
The school allowed the trust to view the election roll at its reception office but only to check for names. Staff also sought advice from Schooled, an organisation which provides governance and elections support to schools, and the NZ School Boards Association.
Days later, Bangerz Trust wrote to Education Minister Erica Stanford. That email was also signed off by a 20-year-old former student connected to the trust but again sent from an address connected to Cullen.
The email said: “Because the rolls are ‘view only’ we are not able to confirm that all parents are on the roll…. We will not be able to personalise our electioneering.
“One consequence is that we will be delivering pamphlets to all houses in-zone rather than just to the parents of Kelston Boys’ High School students. This may adversely affect attitudes to the school and may even attract media attention that does not benefit the school at all.”
The school’s election was held in September and resulted in one representative connected to Bangerz Trust, Sione Lisala - a 19-year-old former student of the school, being elected to the board.
In October, the school learned Bangerz had launched a bid to take over the school from January 2026 by converting it to charter status. Strong public opposition led to that bid being dropped.
The trust told 1News it is not aware of any complaint and has never been contacted by the police about any matter. It did not respond to a request for information about the alleged attempt to access the school’s data.
Kelston Boys’ High School declined to comment.
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