School Official Gets 20 Months for Taking Kickbacks
James Picardi, former Chicago Public School employee, receives only 20 months in prison for his minority fraud scheme. This story is in both the Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune. Exceperts below: [Emphasis mine]
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A Wauconda man who took kickbacks for doling out Chicago Public Schools contracts was sentenced to 20 months in prison today. |
Picardi doles out $2.8 million in contracts and receives kick backs of over $100,000 and only gets 20 months. No wonder the corruption continues amongst public officials.
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Such conduct robbed Chicago’s citizens of the honest services of a schools official and adds to the cynicism the public has when it comes to public employees, Young said. “He abused his position at the Chicago Public Schools over a significant period of time for his personal gain,” Young said, reminding the judge that Picardi was accused of pocketing more than $110,000. |
One fact that was not pointed out with the sentencing was that Picardi was paid for three years during the entire invesitgation. I ‘m sure this has heepened occasionaly in the private sector, but it is the rule in governmental bodies.
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A Chicago Public Schools employee continued to work for the district for three years even though an internal investigation found he was tied to a scheme involving fraudulent snow removal billing, according to a published report. |
Read the original indictment here.
As a side note to the story, I find it very ironic that Mr. Picardi is going to jail for taking kickbacks while the IASB, Illinois ASBO and IASA are getting royalties kickbacks from the IEC to the tune over $200,000 last year. What Picardi did was wrong and deserved more than 20 months. What the IEC is doing with this organizations is also wrong and needs to be stopped immediately.
