The Justice Department issued the following statement.
Earl Joe Nelson of Biloxi, Mississippi and Monekea Smith-Taylor of St. Louis, Missouri appeared in Federal Court before District Judge Sharion Aycock in Aberdeen today and pled guilty to conspiracy to commit embezzlement. On a previous court date, in October 2025, Mario Willis of Southaven, Mississippi also pled guilty to the same conspiracy.
According to court documents, from July 2019 to May 2022, Nelson was the superintendent of Clarksdale Municipal School District. In October 2022, Nelson became the superintendent of Leake County School District. Mario Willis was the superintendent of Hollandale School District. Monekea Smith-Taylor was a schoolteacher in the St. Louis, Missouri area.
Nelson and Willis used their position as school superintendents to enter into reciprocal consulting contracts and generate reciprocal payments for consulting services at an inflated rate of payment and for consulting services that were not actually provided. From November 2021 to June 2023, at the direction of Mario Willis as superintendent, the Hollandale School District paid a total of approximately $94,400 to Ira Reed Consulting, Inc. and N17 Group, LLC for the personal benefit of Nelson.
From November 2021 to May 2022, at the direction of Nelson as superintendent, the Clarksdale Municipal School District paid a total of approximately $25,400 to K&S Enterprises, LLC and ALM Brothers, LLC for the personal benefit of Mario Willis. From January 2023 to May 2023, at the direction of Nelson as superintendent, the Leake County School District paid a total of approximately $23,500 to K&S Enterprises, LLC for the personal benefit of Mario Willis.
Many of the invoices used to justify these payments were identical with only the names changed. Nelson often used the same invoices generated by Willis, changed the names and sent them back to the Hollandale School District for payment to Nelson.
In addition to the conspiracy with Nelson, Willis used his position as school superintendent to generate payments to Erudition Consulting Company, a company owned and controlled by Monekea Smith-Taylor, for consulting services at an inflated rate of payment and for consulting services that were not actually provided. After receiving payment, Smith-Taylor would meet Nelson in person and provide him with a cash payment, often exactly half of what she had been paid by the Hollandale School District. From June 2021 to May 2023, at the direction of Mario Willis as superintendent, the Hollandale School District paid approximately $250,902 to Erudition Consulting Company, LLC.
Nelson, Willis and Smith-Taylor face a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison. District Judge Sharion Aycock will determine their sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
“The protection and education of children goes to the very heart of who we are as a people,” said U.S. Attorney Scott F. Leary. “Those that violate this sacred trust will face the consequences of their actions. Always remember those law enforcement officers who spend their careers protecting the public and especially the children of this great state.”
“Today’s action shows that these former school leaders not only knowingly and willfully abused their positions of trust for personal gain but did so at the expense of the educational development of children. That is unacceptable," said Adam Shanedling, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General’s Eastern Regional Office. “Deservedly, they will both be held accountable for cheating Mississippi students and taxpayers."
“Thank you to the US Attorney’s Office for helping us bring this case to a close,” said State Auditor Shad White. “My office will continue to work with prosecutors to deliver record results for taxpayers.”
The Mississippi Office of the State Auditor and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Clayton A. Dabbs is prosecuting the case.
25 comments:
Even the max of five years is a slap on the hand for blatantly robbing school kids of that kind of funding.
You can rest assured that these are school districts where there is very little parental participation or scrutiny of the school's performance by the people they are supposed to serve. These crooks felt that no one would be watching when they robbed the cookie jar. As far as their parents are concerned they were right they could have robbed the districts blind and gotten away. But they always forget that somebody on the state or federal level is watching. Gotcha
After reading this, it is safe to assume that this was not a hard case to solve.
Elementary
Always be wary, when you hear the word, consultant. Many ex-politicians become consultants. Nuff said!
Excellent example of a good reason for school choice.
I read the press release and Auditor Shadrack seems mighty happy to be working with the feds.
What was the first case where the feds indicted after Auditor Shadrack brought them the case?
Basically I'm wondering if it had ever occured to Certified Fraud Examiner/State Auditor Shadrack that he could take the TANF cases to the feds rather than to Jody Owens.
If Shadrack didn't know how to take a case to the feds when the whistleblower dropped the TANF case in his lap that's one kind of fail, but if he knew how to do it but decided not to, that's a fail that raises different questions.
Actually, it's a good argument AGAINST School Choice. Once government starts throwing money at something, corruption follows. The fake daycares of Minnesota are a grand example.
Those are our property Tax dollars being stolen. Those are big numbers. I know there are Federal sentencing guidelines but that’s not enough time
Well in the 90’s I believe Hinds County paid Jerry Grazario or something similar out of Miami Florida under the direction of Bennie as he wanted reading standards lowered & it was a quarter million they were paid think through ACLU but parents stood up against it as Bennie’s wife worked in the Hinds County Superintendents office when I called her myself& asked about how much we as taxpayers were paying for the study. Mrs. Thompson told me, “It is coming 503C, not taxpayers money”. Who do these people think pay non profits. Duh
Moral relativism is a disease where citizens have become incapable of discerning right from wrong and is the first refuge of both the crook and sad sack victims.
@10:24, "The fake daycares of Minnesota are a grand example." Sorry, that fraud is happening in every state, including Mississippi.
Remember the plan our state had to fingerprint daily to verify attendance? Wonder why?
It should be noted that Nelson's wife is also a Mississippi school superintendent in Forest....
Punctuation periods are your friend.
Hmmm, she probably had no idea her husband was doing any of that. Of course, that will be her story.
All of the MS crooks may very well continue to hose the taxpayers by receiving lifetime payments from the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). Why do we constantly reward failure of this type? Why do we not provide significant punishment for these thieves? I'll bet not a single one of them does 5 minutes in jail.
Conspiracy could have occurred at a State/Regional teachers' conference that enabled the conspirators to meet and hatch their scheme, where travel, lodging and buffets were on taxpayer funds.
Well diagrammed. Shad White's career is likely over. As you described, either Shadrack was incompetent regarding the TANF case, or he knew how to create subterfuge and avoid the Feds to save PhilBilly Bryant. Sold his soul cheap.
When Shad runs for another office continuing his career on the public dime he will have many questions of his incompetence to answer starting with his protection of Phil & selecting the Hinds DA rather than bringing the Feds in.
When Shad runs for another office continuing his career on the public dime he will have many questions of his incompetence to answer starting with his protection of Phil & selecting the Hinds DA rather than bringing the Feds in.
I read no further than "Clarksdale Municipal School District, Leake County School District, Hollandale School District and the St. Louis, Missouri area" in order to post here, with assurance: THE USUAL SUSPECTS.
But, this is really just another version of the types of contracts our prior State Department of Education head continually wrote with her buds in Maryland - just not quite as nuanced.
Explain how this is a good reason to have 'school choice'.
Where is the low-hanging fruit guy, or gal?
Democrat perpetrators
The "News" School, lest one forget.
Post a Comment