Posted on 04/15/2011 8:04:21 AM PDT by freespirited
A federal grand jury has indicted two former top officials at a charter school in Northwest Philadelphia on charges of stealing $522,000 in taxpayer funds.
The 27-count indictment charges Hugh C. Clark, 64, and Ina M. Walker, 58, with conspiracy, wire fraud, and theft from a federally funded program, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger announced Thursday.
The pair, both from Philadelphia, allegedly used the money slated for New Media charter school to pay expenses at Lotus Academy, a small private school they controlled; to fund personal businesses, including the Black Olive health-food store and the Black Olive restaurant in Mount Airy; and for personal expenses, including meals and credit-card bills, Memeger said.
The indictments, which were unsealed Thursday, came nearly two years after The Inquirer first reported allegations of fiscal mismanagement and conflicts of interest at the school, which has campuses in the Stenton and Germantown neighborhoods.
Joan E. Burnes, an assistant U.S. attorney who is prosecuting the case, said that between March 2005 and December 2009, Walker and Clark allegedly stole more than $500,000 in taxpayer funds that were meant to educate students at the charter school.
Clark was the president of the charter's board and Walker was the school's chief executive officer. Both were involved in founding the school in 2004.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Yeah Philly is bad. But at every turn, everywhere, wherever tax $$$ are doled out, you find corruption or incompetence, and usually both.
I am deeply saddened.
This is bad but it's just about what Philly School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman gets in salary & bonuses and the dirty charter school officials have probably done more actual work and less damage.
i hate that as i read the article, i imagined what they looked like... and was right...
Ain’t affirmative action hires great?
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