Ex-Mississippi educator from Biloxi, two others sentenced in $400K embezzlement scheme
Two Mississippi school superintendents, including one from Biloxi, and a schoolteacher from St. Louis, Missouri, have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in a conspiracy to embezzle more than $400,000 from Mississippi school districts.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Aycock in May sentenced Earl Joe Nelson of Biloxi to 14 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. She also ordered him to pay $143,300 in restitution, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Mississippi.
Nelson formerly served as the superintendent of the Clarksdale Municipal School District and the Leake County School District.
Nelson, former Hollandale School District Superintendent Mario Willis and former schoolteacher Monekea Smith-Taylor of St. Louis each pleaded guilty earlier this year for their roles in the conspiracy.
Aycock sentenced Willis to 20 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $393,300 in restitution.
Smith-Taylor received a 16-month prison sentence, three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution. Nelson served as superintendent of the Clarksdale Municipal School District from July 2019 until May 2022, when he left to become superintendent of the Leake County School District.
According to federal prosecutors, Nelson and Willis used their positions as school superintendents to persuade their respective districts to enter into consulting contracts at inflated prices for services that were never provided.
Authorities said Nelson authorized tens of thousands of dollars in payments that benefited the Hollandale School District, where Willis worked.
In return, prosecutors said Willis directed nearly $95,000 in payments from the Hollandale School District to companies that financially benefited Nelson.
Prosecutors said the scheme relied on recycled and nearly identical invoices with company names swapped to justify the payments.
Nelson also participated in a related arrangement involving a Missouri schoolteacher who funneled cash back to him after receiving inflated consulting payments.
As part of the scheme, and at Willis' direction, the Hollandale School District paid about $94,400 to Ira Reed Consulting Inc. and N17 Group LLC, resulting in financial benefits for Nelson, prosecutors said.
In return, Nelson advised the Clarksdale Municipal School District to pay about $25,400 to K & S Enterprises LLC and ALM Brothers LLC, contracts that resulted in financial benefits for Willis, prosecutors said.
After Nelson became superintendent of the Leake County School District, he directed the district to pay about $23,500 to K & S Enterprises LLC, which resulted in personal financial benefits for those involved in the scheme.
Prosecutors said the trio used fraudulent invoices originally generated by Willis to obtain cash-back payments
Smith-Taylor owned Erudition Consulting and received money from school districts for services that were never provided. After receiving the payments, prosecutors said, she met Nelson and gave him half of the proceeds from the fraudulent contracts.
“The embezzlement of school funds is just the type of crime the National Fraud Enforcement Division is calling on us to emphasize,” U.S. Attorney Scott Leary said in the news release. “We must remain diligent to ensure education dollars go where intended, to our children.”
