A former Atlanta schools technology director has been indicted by a federal grand jury for an alleged kickback scheme.

Jerome Oberlton, who served as chief information officer for Atlanta schools from 2004 to 2007, was charged with Mahendra Patel, who allegedly assisted Oberlton in the kickback scheme.

Both men face charges of conspiracy, money laundering, mail fraud, wire fraud and bribery.

The indictment, handed up on May 28, was unsealed Monday.

It alleges that, beginning in April 2006, Oberlton and Patel met with two unnamed co-conspirators in Detroit and told them they needed to pay kickbacks if they wanted to win a contract for an APS Data Warehousing project. The vendor’s officials later handed over $60,000 in checks to Oberlton and Patel, the indictment said.

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A migrant farmworker harvests Vidalia onions at a farm in Collins, in 2011. A coalition of farmworkers, including one based in Georgia, filed suit last month in federal court arguing that cuts to H-2A wages will trigger a cut in the pay and standard of living of U.S. agricultural workers. (Bita Honarvar/AJC)

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