Plea hearing set for Patel in APS case
Mahendra Patel is scheduled to enter a guilty plea Friday in a case federal prosecutors allege involved a kickback scheme from a company awarded a $700,000 Atlanta Public Schools contract, court records show.
Patel, an information technology consultant, was indicted in June with Jerome Oberlton, who served as APS information officer from 2004 to 2007 and who has pleaded not guilty. The indictment alleged that, beginning in April 2006, the two men met with co-conspirators in Detroit and told them they needed to pay kickbacks if the company wanted to win a contract for a data warehousing project.
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.
