3 in charter-school bribery case guilty

A federal jury found three defendants guilty on Tuesday in a bribery and kickback scheme at a now-defunct Ohio charter school.

Government prosecutors had charged that two board members, the superintendent and an outside contractor for Arise! Academy in Dayton had shared nearly $500,000 and other perks as part of the scam.

Testimony in the two-week trial ended on Friday in U.S. District Court in Columbus. The jury began deliberating on Monday.

Shane K. Floyd, 42, the school’s superintendent and chief operating officer and a resident of Strongsville, near Cleveland, and board member Christopher D. Martin, 44, of Springfield, were found guilty of bribery, conspiracy to illegally use federal money and lying to the FBI.

Consultant Carl L. Robinson, 47, of Durham, N.C., was found guilty of bribery and conspiracy to illegal use of federal money.

A fourth defendant, board member Kristal N. Screven, 39, of Dayton, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge on May 8.

“The government is pleased with any verdict, but today’s signifies that public corruption in any form will not be tolerated,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Squires, who headed the prosecution.

Robinson, who operated the educational-consulting business Global Educational Consultants, was charged with bribing Screven, Martin and Floyd.

Prosecutors asked for a forfeiture of $420,919, the proceeds from the scam, which occurred from 2008 to 2010.

The four were indicted a year ago; additional charges were added in April.

The indictments said that Robinson bribed the other three defendants to hire Global Educational for “lucrative educational consulting services” for Arise.

Arise, which received federal funds to operate, paid Global $420,919.

During that time, Arise had “significant” financial problems and cut teacher pay, the indictment says.

The conspiracy and falsestatement convictions are each punishable by as many as five years in prison; the bribery charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

No sentencing dates have been set.

Arise! Academy also was called Carter G. Woodson Institute. It closed in 2010.

Former Arise treasurer Edward E. Dudley Sr. was permanently banned from working in Ohio schools in 2012 after a state audit found that he’d allowed misspending at Arise and other charter schools.