Not guilty pleas entered in APS kickback indictment
The former chief information officer for Atlanta Public Schools and a Kennesaw information technology consultant on Tuesday entered not guilty pleas before a U.S. magistrate and were released on $25,000 bond.
Jerome Oberlton, 47, and Mahendra Patel, 45, were recently indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta for allegedly receiving kickbacks in exchange for Oberlton using his influence at APS to award a $780,000 computer project in 2007. A computer company that won a data warehousing contract allegedly paid $60,000 in bribes to Oberlton and Patel over almost six months, prosecutors said.
About the Author
Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. His father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years, retiring in 1986. Bill has primarily covered the state’s court system, doing all he can do to keep the scales of justice on an even keel. Since 2015, he has been the host of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast.
