Crime & Law
Ex-CPS Principal Sentenced to Year in Prison Following Nearly Decade-Long Fraud Scheme
(Capitol News Illinois)
A former Chicago Public Schools principal has been sentenced to federal prison after he and two others pleaded guilty to a nearly decade-long fraud scheme that netted the trio more than $1 million.
A federal judge this week sentenced Brian Metcalf, a former CPS network chief and principal at Gage Park High School, to a year and one day in prison after he entered a guilty plea on wire fraud charges.
Metcalf’s codefendants, Kimberly Maddox and James Darnell Campbell, previously pleaded guilty on similar charges and were sentenced to prison terms of two years and one year and a day, respectively. The trio was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $1,099,200.
According to prosecutors, Metcalf and Maddox — a former CPS vendor — for nearly 10 years falsely claimed that Maddox or her spouse were providing services to a pair of school systems and a nonprofit organization, when in reality, no such services were provided.
“Rather than directing those funds toward curricula, books, technology, training, support services, or extracurricular enrichment, Metcalf and his co-defendants spent it on themselves,” federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
Spokespersons for Chicago Public Schools did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Metcalf and Maddox first sought to illegally profit from various roles Metcalf held in school systems in Chicago and Indianapolis, as well as a nonprofit corporation, prosecutors alleged.
They claimed Metcalf spearheaded the offense, using his knowledge about the victim schools and organization to provide his co-defendants with templates and language for false invoices to make them appear legitimate.
After Metcalf had the invoices approved and the funds remitted to Maddox and Campbell, they gave Metcalf half of the proceeds from the fraud, prosecutors said.
After that fraud was already underway Campbell, who worked as a consultant, approached Metcalf and said he wanted to join the scheme, prosecutors said.
At that time Metcalf was serving as the superintendent of a school system in Indianapolis and he caused the Indianapolis school system to pay Campbell nearly $400,000 based on bogus invoices for consulting work that was never performed.
“In addition to a substantial financial loss — and the resulting missed opportunities to advance the schools’ and the nonprofit’s laudable missions — Metcalf’s selfish and deceptive conduct caused serious harm — frankly, trauma — to each of these entities, which ultimately impacts the children and communities they serve,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
