Tia’ Von Moore-Patton: Detroit Principal Pleads Guilty To Accepting $4,000 In Kickbacks For School Supplies That Were Never Delivered


Tia’ Von Moore-Patton, 46, principal of Jerry White Centre High School in Detroit, pleaded guilty on Thursday for playing a role in a $2.7 million bribery and kickback scheme, The Detroit Free Press reported.

Moore-Patton had been charged with conspiracy to commit federal bribery, a crime that carries over 5 years in prison. Her conviction is the latest in a slew of plea deals among Detroit public school officials linked to fraudulent schemes that have shocked the nation.

Moore-Patton is accused of accepting over $4,000 in gift card kickbacks from Norman Shy, 73, a former school vendor. Shy entered a plea deal Wednesday, agreeing to spend 5 to 7 years in prison for conniving with school officials to submit falsified invoices for goods he never delivered.

Besides facing a maximum of 5 years in prison, Moore Patton has also been slammed with a $250,000 fine. Since she has entered a plea deal, the disgraced former school principal might just spend up to 18 months behind bars. A sentencing hearing is penciled in for September 8.

Investigators say Norman Shy was the mastermind behind the scheme, which started in 2002 and ran until January 2015. He allegedly gave $908,518 in checks, gift cards and cash to Detroit Public Schools officials in exchange for sending invoices to the district for educational supplies he never delivered. According to a court affidavit, Moore-Patton accepted bribes from Shy between January and June 2014. She was made principal of Jerry White Center High School in 2008.

The DPS website describes the Jerry White Center High School “as a center-based special education school for Autism Spectrum Disorder, Visually Impaired, Hearing Impaired, Moderately Cognitively Impaired, Severely Multiply Impaired and Severely Cognitively Impaired students ages 14-19.”

Moore-Patton revealed during her plea hearing that she was well aware that certain school supplies never arrived at her school, but went on to sign Shy’s invoices. She claimed not to know the exact number of falsified invoices that she signed. Prosecutors allege that Moore-Patton sent at least five letters to Shy using her school letterhead, requesting to be compensated with gift cards so that the kickbacks would not arouse any suspicions. Investigators say they are in custody of Shy’s ledger, which he used to keep track of all the kickbacks he was making to DPS officials.

Moore-Patton, refusing to apologize for her actions in the court room, left the courthouse trying to hide her face in a long dark coat. Her attorney, speaking to reporters, said, “Miss Patton deeply regrets the harm that she’s caused the Detroit Public Schools, the harm that she’s caused her colleagues and especially the harm that she’s caused the students of Detroit Public Schools…she sees today as the first step to make amends for what she has done.”

Moore-Patton’s guilty plea comes just 24 hours after the mastermind Shy pleaded guilty and confessed to making kickbacks to one assistant superintendent and a dozen school principals, running up a billing to the tune of $5 million over 13 years, of which $2.7 million worth in goods were never delivered. Shy also pleaded guilty to tax evasion and will make a payment of $51,667 to the IRS in back taxes.

Moore-Patton’s kickbacks were nothing in comparison to those of DPS Assistant Superintendent Clara Flowers, who received over $325,000 in gift cards, cash, personal checks and in checks sent to family and friends from Shy. She faces 51-71 months in prison and has been told to pay $324,785 back to the Detroit Public Schools.

[Image via Shutterstock/Valentina_G]

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