Former DeKalb County school superintendent Crawford Lewis, former school system chief financial officer Patricia Pope, her former husband and a school employee were indicted Monday on racketeering charges.

DeKalb County District Attorney Gwendolyn Keyes-Fleming announced the indictments of Lewis, Pope, her former husband, Anthony V. Pope; and Cointa Moody at a press conference late Wednesday afternoon. Anthony Pope owns an architecture firm that obtained school system contracts while Patricia was the system’s CFO. Moody was an employee of Vincent Pope Architects, Inc. She was also Patricia Pope’s administrative assistant.

Details about the indictments were spelled out in a 41-page Power Point presentation Keyes-Fleming’s office released to various news outlets. Lewis and Patricia Pope were each indicted on four counts of racketeering and two counts of bribery and theft by a government employee. Patricia Pope was also indicted for falsifying public records.

The indictment alleges that Pope and Lewis illegally steered millions of dollars in public funds to Anthony Pope’s companies.  Pope and Lewis  also accepted gifts and cash from contractors, and illegally purchased cars  and submitted fraudulent overtime payments, according to the indictment.  Moody, who was also Patricia Pope’s administrative assistant, also accepted cash from contractors, the indictment alleges.

Lewis, Moody and Anthony Pope could not be reached immediately. A number listed for Patricia Pope had been disconnected.

View the press conference presentation (PowerPoint)

Contributor: Ben Smith in Litigation | subscribe to rss |   share