Schools lost $300K to fake consultants. Now Alabama administrator will go to prison
A 50-year-old former assistant principal at an Alabama high school was sentenced to prison after federal prosecutors said he swindled the school district out of more than $300,000.
Walter James III, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges last year, was ordered to spend five years in prison and to pay back $314,867 in stolen funds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama said Wednesday in a news release.
James was the assistant principal at Jefferson Davis High School. He’s accused of billing Montgomery Public Schools for consulting services that were never provided.
Acting U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Stewart said James “ignored his responsibility to spend government funds on the children” and deprived the district of “much needed resources.”
“It is such an outrageous violation of the public trust when people responsible for the education of our children cheat taxpayers and line their own pockets instead of benefiting students who, in this great country, are entitled to a public education,” she said in a statement.
A defense attorney representing James and a representative for the school district did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Thursday.
A February 2020 audit of the school district accused James and several other employees of misusing funds, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.
He had left the district and was working as an attorney in Montgomery when the audit was released, according to the newspaper. Alabama State Bar records show James was admitted in September 2019 and disbarred six months later, about a month after the audit.
According to federal court filings, James worked for Montgomery Public Schools from 2003 until 2019. He became an assistant principal in 2014.
During that time, prosecutors said, James “held himself out” as the owner of a consulting company called ED-ONE Professional Development Services. The company was reportedly created to provide services to other school districts.
But James started billing his own school district in August 2016 for services he said had been provided by his consulting company and others, court documents state.
In reality, prosecutors said, the services were nonexistent. The invoices listed vague descriptions such as “books and materials, “consulting” or “three-day workshop.”
In addition to listing his own consulting company on the invoices, court documents state, James often listed made-up consulting firms. He then deposited the checks he received from the school district into his personal checking account, the government said.
Over nearly three years leading up to April 2019, James is accused of finagling $314,867 from the district.
That included $40,000 he got directly from the school and close to $300,000 from the central office, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.
James pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in August 2020, court documents show. A federal judged ordered him to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on Sept. 21.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 12:06 PM with the headline "Schools lost $300K to fake consultants. Now Alabama administrator will go to prison."
