DeKalb County official took ‘bounty’ for student referrals, prosecutors say

Man, 61, is expected to plead guilty to charges next week.

A DeKalb County man involved in a federal program that helps people improve their job skills has been charged with taking bribes from a local college in exchange for enrolling about 20 students to the campus.

Roderick Wyatt, 61, of Stone Mountain, was arraigned Wednesday and is expected to plead guilty to the charges next week, said assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey W. Davis.

Wyatt served as an employment and training supervisor in the WorkSource DeKalb program, a DeKalb County department funded exclusively by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, prosecutors said. The program is to help unemployed and underemployed residents gain job skills.

In 2014, the president and founder of a pre-screened school that offered its students nursing and medical technician certifications approached Wyatt and offered to pay him for each person WorkSource DeKalb referred to the college. Prosecutors declined to name the college or the person they allege offered the bribes.

The college president paid Wyatt $100 for each student approved to attend his school, prosecutors said.

“Wyatt allegedly sold his supervisory position with WorkSource DeKalb for cash. In doing so, he allegedly accepted a ‘bounty’ for each student sent to a specific college,” said U. S. Attorney John A. Horn.

DeKalb officials said they could not respond to questions submitted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution because the federal investigation is ongoing.