Former School Superintendent Enters Plea To Wire Fraud
Former School Superintendent Enters Plea To Wire Fraud
May 20, 2019Updated: June 18, 2019
By News Channel Nebraska
By News Channel NebraskaLINCOLN - Paul Sellon, a former school superintendent at Hamburg, Iowa, and at the Santee Sioux reservation, entered a guilty plea in federal court Thursday to wire fraud. Prosecutors say they will drop all charges against his wife, Sue Ann Sellon.
Sellon had been indicted involving federal funds that had been awarded to the Santee Community Schools through the American Recovery Act.
Court records say Sellon had worked with Mathias Lorenz of Mastery Learning and Achievement at other schools, but at Santee, he directed the company to send portions of federal grant dollars directly to his accounts.
Judge Richard Kopf: "His company would pay the defendant Sellon a portion of the money Lorenz's business received for providing services to the Santee school. Lorenz believed his business would not have received the contracts to provide services to the school had he not agreed to pay a portion of the proceeds to his business received from the Santee school to you. Is that fact true?
Sellon: “It is."
The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Richard Kopf told Sellon that probation is not generally granted in cases like this. The government will be seeking $385,000 in restitution at time of sentencing on Aug. 8.
Sellon had been indicted involving federal funds that had been awarded to the Santee Community Schools through the American Recovery Act.
Court records say Sellon had worked with Mathias Lorenz of Mastery Learning and Achievement at other schools, but at Santee, he directed the company to send portions of federal grant dollars directly to his accounts.
Judge Richard Kopf: "His company would pay the defendant Sellon a portion of the money Lorenz's business received for providing services to the Santee school. Lorenz believed his business would not have received the contracts to provide services to the school had he not agreed to pay a portion of the proceeds to his business received from the Santee school to you. Is that fact true?
Sellon: “It is."
The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Richard Kopf told Sellon that probation is not generally granted in cases like this. The government will be seeking $385,000 in restitution at time of sentencing on Aug. 8.