10 years for board member from impoverished school for pocketing $566,000 in kickbacks
(Tribune illustration)
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A former North Chicago school board member was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for pocketing at least $566,000 in kickbacks in return for steering millions of dollars in contracts to companies that bused students.
Gloria Harper, 63, bowed her head and wept silently as U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ordered that she serve her 10-year prison term on top of a 2 ½-year sentence she received in Louisiana in 2012 for fraud.
"When you repeat an offense over and over for nine years, it isn't stupidity anymore," Coleman said of the kickback scheme at the impoverished North Chicago school district. "That's greed, pure greed."
Harper and Alice Sherrod, the district's former transportation director, were charged in 2011 with directing business toward busing companies that received $21 million in district contracts between 2001 and 2010.
Prosecutors said Harper agreed in 2001 with the leader of a busing company, Tommie Boddie, 66, of Wadsworth, that Boddie would provide cash payments to Harper and Sherrod in exchange for them arranging that the school district increase the number of students transported by his company. Boddie initially provided Harper and Sherrod with $4,000 to $5,000 per month. Two years later, the kickbacks reached up to $20,000 a month.
In 2003, Harper directed Boddie and Derrick Eubanks, 47, of Lake Villa, who owned a different busing company, to join together and form one separate front company, that would bid on a contract to provide transportation to North Chicago students, the charges alleged. Boddie and Eubanks submitted a bid under the company "Safety First," and agreed to split their profits with Harper and Sherrod, prosecutors said
Harper's role was to ensure there were enough votes on the school district board to maintain Safety First won the district contracts. Harper ensured Boddie and Eubanks that she could do this by controlling a block of votes on the board and through her influence with other members.
At her sentencing, Harper broke into tears as she address the judge. She apologized for the pain she brought to her family during a critical time for her husband, who is battling prostate cancer, she said.
"Because of my actions, I am broken and I am destroyed," said Harper, wiping her glasses with crumbled tissue. "Where I once stood free on my own, I stand in shackles like a slave."
Harper's attorney, Sergio Rodriguez, asked for leniency, citing her failing kidney and worsening eyesight.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Getter asked the court for a 12 to 15-year sentence and said Harper's crimes shouldn't be taken lightly.
"I understand her age. I understand her health. But I don't know how else we can continue to convey to people out there that they need to pay for their crimes with long sentences," Getter said.
Meltagouri@tribune.com
Gloria Harper, 63, bowed her head and wept silently as U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ordered that she serve her 10-year prison term on top of a 2 ½-year sentence she received in Louisiana in 2012 for fraud.
"When you repeat an offense over and over for nine years, it isn't stupidity anymore," Coleman said of the kickback scheme at the impoverished North Chicago school district. "That's greed, pure greed."
Harper and Alice Sherrod, the district's former transportation director, were charged in 2011 with directing business toward busing companies that received $21 million in district contracts between 2001 and 2010.
Prosecutors said Harper agreed in 2001 with the leader of a busing company, Tommie Boddie, 66, of Wadsworth, that Boddie would provide cash payments to Harper and Sherrod in exchange for them arranging that the school district increase the number of students transported by his company. Boddie initially provided Harper and Sherrod with $4,000 to $5,000 per month. Two years later, the kickbacks reached up to $20,000 a month.
In 2003, Harper directed Boddie and Derrick Eubanks, 47, of Lake Villa, who owned a different busing company, to join together and form one separate front company, that would bid on a contract to provide transportation to North Chicago students, the charges alleged. Boddie and Eubanks submitted a bid under the company "Safety First," and agreed to split their profits with Harper and Sherrod, prosecutors said
Harper's role was to ensure there were enough votes on the school district board to maintain Safety First won the district contracts. Harper ensured Boddie and Eubanks that she could do this by controlling a block of votes on the board and through her influence with other members.
At her sentencing, Harper broke into tears as she address the judge. She apologized for the pain she brought to her family during a critical time for her husband, who is battling prostate cancer, she said.
"Because of my actions, I am broken and I am destroyed," said Harper, wiping her glasses with crumbled tissue. "Where I once stood free on my own, I stand in shackles like a slave."
Harper's attorney, Sergio Rodriguez, asked for leniency, citing her failing kidney and worsening eyesight.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Getter asked the court for a 12 to 15-year sentence and said Harper's crimes shouldn't be taken lightly.
"I understand her age. I understand her health. But I don't know how else we can continue to convey to people out there that they need to pay for their crimes with long sentences," Getter said.
Meltagouri@tribune.com
