The former leader of Atlanta Public Schools’ technology department was sentenced to 3 years and 5 months in federal prison today for taking $60,000 in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for awarding more than $735,000 in school technology contracts.
The sentence was in line with the plea deal Jerome Oberlton had reached with prosecutors earlier this year.
Oberlton and his co-defendant, information technology consultant Mahendra Patel, will also together have to pay restitution of $735,000 to the Atlanta Public Schools.
“Oberlton lined his own pockets at the expense of the APS students and teachers who depended on him,” United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a written statement. “In a time when schools struggle to make the most of every dollar, Oberlton put his own greed before his obligation to protect scarce resources.”
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