Two MS Superintendents St, Louis Teacher enter guilty pleas for Federal Embezzlement
ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) – Two Mississippi school superintendents and a St. Louis school teacher have entered guilty pleas to Federal Embezzlement charges.
Earl Joe Nelson, who served as Superintendent for the Clarksdale Municipal School District and later the Leake County School District, and Monekea Smith-Taylor of Saint Louis both pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Embezzlement in Aberdeen Federal Court today, January 20.
Mario Willis, former Superintendent of the Hollandale School District, pleaded to the same charge back in October.
According to court documents, Nelson and Willis used their positions as Superintendents to enter into reciprocal consulting contracts and generate payments for those consulting services at an inflated rate, and, in some cases, for consulting services that were never provided.
Under Willis’ direction, Hollandale paid $94,000 to two consulting firms. That money went to Nelson.
And Clarksdale and Leake County Schools under Nelson paid around $50,000 to consulting firms that went to Willis.
Both men also made contracts with Erudition Consulting Company, run by Monekea Smith-Taylor.
Taylor reportedly then kicked back as much as half of those contracts to the superintendents.
The trio will be sentenced at a later date.
