Detroit principle Kenyetta Wilbourn Snapp
Twelve former and current Detroit Schools principals have been charged with bribery based on recently released court records.
Detroit principal Kenyetta Wilbourn Snapp pleaded guilty to bribery charges in January. She has been accused of running and partaking in a kickback scheme with a vendor who provided items like paper, supplemental teaching materials and auditorium chairs.
The vendor, Allstate Sales, was authorized to provide school supplies for DPS. principals and other administrators have reportedly received $908,500 in kickbacks. In total, 14 people were involved, including administrators and representatives of the vendor. Snapp allegedly made money exchanges at a local bank, dividing money with a vendor representative.
This scandal comes after shocking news showing that schools in the Detroit Public School System are falling apart. Atlanta Black Star revealed that there have been reports of mold, holes in the roofs, bumps underneath the floors, holes in the walls, leaking from the floors above, and mushroom growth within classrooms. Photos of leaking roofs and falling ceiling tiles have gone viral.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Snapp was in the Education Achievement Authority who worked at Denby and Mumford high schools. She pocketed a bribe of $58,050 from the vendor. She was secretly indicted by a grand jury in July on charges of the aforementioned activity.
For five years, Snapp and others were engaged in the illegal activity, collecting large sums of cash and taking from the bankrupt school system. U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade will be joined by FBI and IRS officials at a news conference today to reveal the full list of charges the 12 school administrators will face.
The Detroit News reported that Glynis Thornton, the man who represented the vendor, pleaded guilty to giving Snapp the bribe in January.
The news and court records released today reveals the names and schools where the administrators worked:
The current principal of Charles L. Spain Elementary, Ronald Alexander has allegedly taken $23,000 from Norman Shy, owner of Allstate Sales, in exchange for using him as a school supply vendor.
Former principal at both Rosa Parks School and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School, Beverly Campbell, allegedly accepted $50,000 in cash kickbacks from Shy.
Also Gerlma Johnson, who was the former principal at Earhart Elementary-Middle School, allegedly accepted an estimated $23,000 in cash kickbacks from the vendor.
The others include current principals James Hearn, Tonya Bowman, Josette Buendia, James Hearn, Tia’ Von Moore-Patton, Clara Smith and Starley Johnson. The last two former principals include Ronnie Sims and Willye Pearsall. Specific dollar amounts have not been released for these last two groups of principals.
