Former D.C. Public Schools Employee Pleads Guilty to Accepting $20,300 from Government Contractor
Money Paid After Defendant Recommended Contract for His Friend

WASHINGTON—Charles White, 38, a former senior management and program analyst with the grants office of the District of Columbia Public Schools, pled guilty today to a charge stemming from his acceptance of a $20,300 check from the spouse of a friend whom White had recommended receive a government contract, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

White, of Camp Springs, Md., pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to supplementation of government salary. The Honorable Gladys Kessler scheduled sentencing for November 16, 2011. White faces up to five years of incarceration.

According to the government’s evidence, in 2008, White was responsible for soliciting bids for a renovation project at J.O. Wilson Elementary School. White informed his friend about the project. White had previously done work for the friend’s child care company without being paid, but with the expectation that White would be compensated prospectively, when the company had enough money to pay him. White’s friend submitted a bid for the renovation project using the name “Foundations Inc.,” a variation of his child care company’s name.

Neither the friend nor Foundations Inc. had professional experience doing renovation work. Foundations Inc. was awarded the contract based on White’s recommendation. The firm charged approximately $56,465 for the renovation project. In August of 2008, the spouse of White’s friend gave White a check in the amount of $20,300. White believed that the check was to compensate him for the earlier work he had done for his friend’s child care company and also for selecting Foundations Inc. to do the renovation project for the school system.

In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the outstanding investigative work of the agents of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, as well as Special Agent Derek Savoy of the District of Columbia Office of Inspector General. U.S. Attorney Machen also praised the efforts of members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including former Paralegal Specialist Carolyn Cody, Legal Assistants Jamasee Lucas and Krishawn Graham, former Legal Assistant April Peeler, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Haray, who aided with the investigation of the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Johnson, who is prosecuting the case.