[nfbmi-talk] {Spam?} Disgusting Professionals

[Terry D. Eagle]

DPS official admits cheating special ed kids out of supplies 

 Tresa Baldas 

, Detroit Free Press 

An assistant superintendent and principal pleaded guilty today in a
$1-million DPS kickback scheme. 

635978916948451758-DPS-050316-SG03.jpg 

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(Photo: Salwan Georges, Detroit Free Press) 

After 38 years of working for Detroit Public Schools, an assistant
superintendent admitted in federal court today that she cheated kids with
disabilities out of school supplies by helping a crooked vendor run a
kickback scheme that could send her to prison for nearly six years. 

With her voice quivering, Clara Flowers, 61, of Detroit pleaded guilty to
accepting $324,685 in kickbacks from a vendor as a thank-you for helping him
bill DPS for school supplies that were intended for children with
disabilities but were never delivered. 

Flowers, the assistant superintendent of Detroit Public Schools' Office of
Specialized Student Services, offered no explanation or excuses for her
actions.  When asked to explain what she did, Flowers, in a shaky voice,
said: "I received kickbacks from Norman Shy." 

Flowers said the kickbacks from Shy - who has also been charged in the case
- came in the forms of checks, prepaid gift cards and home improvements on
her private residence. Their scheme, she said, lasted from 2009 through
2015. 

Under the terms of her plea agreement, Flowers' sentencing range is 57-71
months in prison. She also was ordered to make $324,785 in restitution to
DPS, and another $27,488 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service  for
unpaid taxes. 

"She wants to apologize to the students, to the staff and the parents of the
Detroit Public Schools. She is profoundly sorry for what she did and accepts
full  responsibility," said her lawyer Frank Eaman. 

Supporters hugged Flowers in the hallway afterward and stood by her side as
they left the federal courthouse. She declined to comment and said nothing
as she walked down Fort Street, away from the federal court building. 

She will be sentenced Sept. 6. 

Tanya Bowman, principal at Osborn Collegiate Academy 

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Tanya Bowman, principal at Osborn Collegiate Academy of Mathematics, Science
and Technology, outside the Federal Courthouse in Detroit on Tuesday, May 3,
2016, after pleading guilty to accepting kickbacks from a vendor.

 

(Photo: Jessica J. Trevino, Detroit Free Press) 

Also appearing in U.S. District Court in downtown Detroit today was Tanya
Bowman, 48, of Novi, principal at Osborn Collegiate Academy of Mathematics,
Science and Technology. Bowman pleaded guilty to bribery, admitting she took
$12,500 in kickbacks from Shy as a reward for helping him submit fraudulent
invoices for school supplies. 

She said she received only prepaid gift cards from Shy and nothing else. 

Under the terms of her deal, she faces between 18 and 24 months in prison.
She also has to pay back DPS $12,500 in restitution. 

Bowman offered no explanation or apology - unlike another principal did last
week when she pleaded guilty to the same crime as Bowman. 

 

Detroit Public Schools scandal 

2 more Detroit principals plead guilty to cheating kids for gift cards 

Third principal admits bribery: 'I got caught up in it' 

DPS official admits cheating special ed kids out of supplies 

DPS administrator cuts deal in $324K kickback scheme 

Vendor in DPS corruption case lived like a king 

DPS principal pleads guilty in scam: 'I fell out of grace of God' 

Head of Detroit school that got $500K Ellen gift among those charged 

Rochelle Riley: Weeding out crooks is first step to remaking DPS 

Ellen's $500K gift to Detroit school still a go despite corruption 

Feds: 12 Detroit principals stole $1M in kickback scheme 

DPS Principal Clara Smith, who pleaded guilty to accepting $194,000 in
kickbacks from Shy, said that she spent a lot of the kickbacks on her
students. For example, she said, she used prepaid gift cards from Shy to
help decorate her school, buy clothes for students and Christmas presents,
and to help pay for student trips to Chicago and Washington D.C. 

Smith also said the  scam to submit phony invoices to DPS was Shy's idea. 

"At first, I said, 'No, no, no,' "  Smith, principal at Thirkell
Elementary-Middle School, said at her plea hearing. "But I fell out of the
grace of God by going along with the scheme." 

And it was Shy who lured her, Smith said. 

"He was saying, 'Most of the principals are doing it. I've been a vendor for
50 years, and no one has ever gotten caught,' " said Smith, who faces
between 46 and 57 months in federal prison for her crime. 

Shy, 74, of Franklin also has been charged in the case and has a plea
hearing scheduled for May 11. 

. Related: 

Vendor in DPS corruption case lived like a king 

Shy, Flowers and Bowman 

are among 14 defendants 

 who were charged in March with running individual kickback schemes over a
period of 13 years that involved principals helping a vendor cheat Detroit
students out of school supplies that were paid for, but rarely delivered. Of
those charged were 12 principals, one assistant superintendent and the
vendor, whom prosecutors say was at the center of the scheme. According to
the U.S. Attorney's Office, Shy billed DPS $5 million over a period of 13
years, of which $2.7 million was ill-gotten. 

Shy did this, prosecutors said, with the help of principals who approved
fraudulent purchase orders, which then let Shy submit phony invoices. When
Shy got paid, he kicked some of that money back to the principals as a
reward, prosecutors allege. Some principals received as little as $4,000,
court records show, while others pocketed tens of thousands of dollars,
including Flowers, who got the most: $324,785. 

All but two of the 14 defendants have cut deals in the case.