One by one, the convicted principals pleaded for mercy, insisting they lived for their students and had suffered enough already.
One called himself "a hero."
But the judge sentenced them all to prison -- longer than the defendants preferred, but shorter than what prosecutors had hoped -- for helping a millionaire businessman cheat the state's poorest schoolchildren out of $2.7 million in supplies.
"They need to know that they all deserve better than what these principals gave us," U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said Thursday in sentencing four more Detroit principals to prison for stealing from the students they were supposed to protect.
In a sensational school corruption trial that has triggered public outrage and planted a bull's-eye on Detroit's struggling schools, Roberts handed down sentences that ranged from six months to one year to four ex-principals who took kickbacks from vendor Norman Shy as rewards for approving his phony invoices. The scheme, prosecutors said, cheated DPS out of $2.7 million in school supplies that were paid for but never delivered.
Prosecutors had argued for stiffer penalties -- in some cases double what the defendants got -- but Roberts took into account the principals' otherwise clean records and years of good deeds.
For Spain Elementary Principal Ronald Alexander, whose school won a $500,000 giveaway on the Ellen DeGeneres talk show in February, any prison sentence was too severe. At least that's what he argued to the judge as he called himself "a hero" who lived for his students and school community.
"All I have ever done is give my best to these children," Alexander said. "I buried three students because the kids' parents didn't have money -- out of my own pocket ... I love this school. It think it's unfair."
Alexander, who received a one-year prison sentence for accepting $23,000 in kickbacks from Shy and a $23,000 restitution order, blamed his legal troubles on the vendor.
"Mr. Shy -- he did me wrong. He was saying he gave me donations," Alexander said, referring to the gift cards and checks that Shy gave him over the years.
Alexander said he spent it on the kids.
"I did not pad my pockets ... some of the gift cards are still at home," he said later, blaming Shy again. "He's a known crook and he's been doing it for years."
Alexander also stressed that he needed to stay out of prison so that he could care for his 87-year-old mother. He also talked about his army of supporters -- students, staff, religious leaders and the parent association at Spain Elementary School, which wrote the judge a letter saying it wants Alexander back.
"Nobody knows how bad I feel to have to go out from my job like this," Alexander said. ,
"I'm sad. I'm hurt. I feel bad. ... I should be judged by the life I have lived. ... I'm not the bad person that the federal (government) has accused me" of being.
Roberts reminded him that he had pleaded guilty.
"Despite your guilty plea, it sounds to me that you think you're guilty of nothing," said Roberts, who then quoted Alexander's plea agreement, in which he admitted that he approved fraudulent invoices "for school supplies that were never delivered to Spain Elementary."
"This is verbatim from your (plea) agreement," Roberts said. "This court and government doesn't have to make up anything. You signed it."
Roberts also rebuffed Alexander's claim that he was hoodwinked by Shy.
"You are not blameless. You had everything in your hands," Roberts said. "Mr. Shy did not make you commit a crime."
Roberts also handed down a one-year sentence to former principal Gerlma Johnson, who came to court dressed in all black and sobbed after learning her punishment for accepting $22,884 in kickbacks from Shy.
Johnson, 60, the former principal at Charles Drew Academy and Earhart Elementary-Middle School, pleaded guilty to bribery in May and said she spent her kickbacks in two ways: buying jewelry, perfume and clothing for herself and helping her school.
In addition to the year behind bars, Roberts ordered Johnson to pay $22,884 in restitution to DPS.
"You essentially robbed Peter to pay Peter. It was their money," Roberts said, referring to the students who were cheated out of school supplies.
Johnson said she was sorry.
"I apologize to DPS, and most of all, I apologize to my students," she said.
Former principal Tanya Bowman also was apologetic as she received a nine-month prison sentence for accepting $12,500 in kickbacks from Shy.
The former principal of Osborn Collegiate Academy of Mathematics, Science and Technology also was ordered to pay $12,500 in restitution to DPS. Bowman said she failed her students after spending her life trying to do the right thing and teaching students to do the same.
"I accept full responsibility. ... I am at peace with whatever decision you decide to make," Bowman said.
Roberts noted that Bowman rebuffed Shy's efforts to continue the scheme once she left Osborn, but also said that Bowman spent some of the gift cards on personal items at Saks Fifth Avenue and Banana Republic. The judge said she received a flood of letters from people who support Bowman and noted that the school's parent group is still behind Bowman.
Roberts, however, said her sentence was not just for Bowman, but for students, parents and other educators.
Former special education principal Tia Von Moore-Patton received the lightest sentence handed down Thursday -- six months -- but she also took the smallest kickback from Shy: six gift cards totaling $4,000.
Moore-Patton, 46, principal at Jerry White Center High School, pleaded guilty to bribery in May and faced 12-18 months in prison under the terms of her plea agreement. She admitting to helping Shy bill DPS for goods that never reached her school, which educates students who are autistic, visually impaired, hearing impaired or severely cognitively impaired.
"I made a poor decision," Moore-Patton said in court . "And I apologize. I'd like to apologize to my students, because my students mean everything."
Moore-Patton described herself as an altruistic educator who made a mistake because "I wanted to give so much." She was hoping to avoid prison, arguing she could serve her sentence in the community, perhaps working for free in a school setting.
But Roberts couldn't justify keeping her free, she said, stressing Moore-Patton helped a businessman cheat DPS students out of supplies to which they were entitled.
"The conduct that she engaged in is serious," said Roberts, who took issue with all of the accused principals' claims that they had suffered plenty and deserved mercy. "The students have suffered far more than any defendant, including you, Ms. Patton."
Moore-Patton was among 14 defendants charged in March with participating in Shy's kickback scheme. The kickbacks came in a variety of forms, including gift cards, checks, new gutters, a new roof, payments to friends and family and credit card bill payments. Out of the 14 defendants, 13 have pleaded guilty. Eight have been sentenced. Shy, the mastermind, received the stiffest sentence: five years. He also has to pay $2.7 million in restitution to DPS. Assistant superintendent Clara Flowers received a three-year sentence on Tuesday for accepting $324,785 in kickbacks from Shy. She also has to pay the kickbacks back to DPS as restitution. That was the stiffest sentence so far out of any educator.
Ronnie Sims, ex-principal of Fleming Elementary and Brenda Scott Middle School, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison for pocketing nearly $59,000 in kickbacks from Shy.
Nina Graves-Hicks, ex-principal at Davis Aerospace Technical High School, was sentenced to one year in prison for accepting $27,385 in kickbacks from Shy. Her kickbacks included gift cards to Bed Bath and Beyond, Dress Barn and Perfumania.
Three more principals will be sentenced next week; one in October.
The only defendant who has not pleaded guilty in the case is Josette Buendia, 50, of Garden City, principal at Bennett Elementary School. She is charged with accepting $45,775 in kickbacks from Shy.
None of the accused DPS principals work at the district anymore. Some already had retired before the charges were filed; the others were let go.
(c)2016 the Detroit Free Press
