A state judge sentenced the former chief operating officer of the DeKalb County, Ga., school district and her ex-husband, an architect, for a scheme in which they steered district design work to his firm.
County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Becker sentenced Patricia Reid and Tony Pope on Dec. 9, but more interesting than the sentences are how the husband-and-wife team worked together yet still believed they worked within the law or had concealed any violations.
Becker sentenced Reid to 15 years in prison for steering district contracts to Tucker, Ga.-based A. Vincent Pope Architects Inc., of which she was also an employee.
Pope was sentenced to serve eight years in jail, and Crawford Lewis, former school district head, received a 12-month sentence for misdemeanor obstruction of justice, according to the county district attorney.
It is not yet clear if the sentences will be appealed.
Pope and Reid were married during the period when she served as the school district COO and funneled $1.4 million in contracts to his architecture firm. Originally charged in 2010, a county jury on Nov. 22 found Reid and Pope guilty of racketeering; the jury also convicted Reid on a theft charge.
The scandal began when Reid took actions in her job that raised eyebrows, just months after being hired by the school district in October 2005. Reid, known then as Pat Pope, served as financial chief and secretary of her husband’s firm from April 2005 to August 2007.
Prior to her employment with the district, she and her husband met with Lewis and the school district’s attorney, agreeing that Tony Pope could complete his existing $326,364 contract for work on Columbia High School, but could not work on any more school district contracts due to the conflict of interest.
The work on the school covered design of a new career center, auditorium additions, HVAC system replacement and ceiling tiles and light fixtures.