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Press Release

Four Face Public Corruption Charges In Connection With Operation Of Dayton Charter School

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio
CONTACT: Fred Alverson
Public Affairs Officer

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A federal grand jury has indicted four people, alleging that they offered and accepted bribes and kickbacks as part of a public corruption conspiracy in their roles as managers and a consultant for Arise! Academy, a charter school in Dayton, Ohio.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Kevin Cornelius, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine whose office oversees the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) announced the indictment today.

The indictment charges Shane K. Floyd, 42, Strongsville, Ohio, who served as superintendent of Arise, Carl L. Robinson, 47, Durham, North Carolina, who operated an educational consulting business called Global Educational Consultants, and Arise board members Christopher D. Martin, 44, Springfield, Ohio and Kristal N. Screven, aka Kristal Allen, 38, Dayton, Ohio.

The indictment alleges that Floyd, Martin and Screven solicited and accepted bribes from Robinson in exchange for awarding a lucrative, unbid consulting contract to Global. The indictment says Arise paid Global $420,919 over 12 months starting in October 2008 at a time when Arise had difficulty making payments to other vendors and staff. In exchange for the consulting contract, Robinson paid Floyd more than $5,000 in cash, gave Martin cash and a trip to Las Vegas, and bribed Screven with cash and payments for a school security services company she and her husband owned.

All four are charged with conspiracy, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison, and with aiding and abetting federal programs bribery, which is punishable by up to ten years in prison. In addition, Floyd, Screven and Martin are each charged with one count of making false statements, punishable by up to five years imprisonment. Screven is also charged with one count of witness tampering for allegedly telling a witness to lie to the grand jury investigating the case. Witness tampering is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. All counts also carry potential fines of up to $250,000.

The indictment also seeks a total of $420,919 in forfeiture that the defendants will have to pay if they are convicted. The amount represents the money derived from the crimes.

Floyd, Robinson and Martin will be summoned to appear in federal court. Screven surrendered to members of the FBI’s Central Ohio Public Corruption Task Force, which includes special agents from the FBI and Ohio BCI, today.  She will receive an initial appearance today before a federal magistrate in Dayton. Senior U.S. District Judge James L. Graham will preside over the case.

Arise! Academy was an Ohio Community School, commonly known as a charter school, which operated with federal funds provided through the state of Ohio.

U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the investigation by the FBI’s Central Ohio Public Corruption Task Force and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Doug Squires and Heather Hill, who are prosecuting the case.

An indictment merely contains allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Updated July 23, 2015