Former Ga. Schools Chief Pleads Guilty

Former state schools superintendent Linda Schrenko is shown as she leaves the federal building in an April 25, 2006 file phot, in Atlanta. Schrenko pleaded guilty Wednesday, May 10, 2006, to fraud and money laundering, ending her trial on charges alleging she embezzled $600,000 in federal education money to fund a failed campaign for governor and a face lift. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) (John Bazemore - AP)

ATLANTA -- A former Georgia state school superintendent accused of embezzling $600,000 and spending it on a facelift and an unsuccessful campaign for governor pleaded guilty Wednesday and will serve eight years in prison.

Linda Schrenko, 56, struck a plea bargain in the middle of her trial. The trial continued for two alleged accomplices.

Prosecutors said Schrenko stole federal education money to underwrite her 2002 campaign for governor, cosmetic surgery and other extras, including a television, computer and a down payment on a car.

She pleaded guilty to one count each of money laundering and fraud. She was originally charged with 40 counts, including conspiracy. She and her lawyer left court without comment.

Schrenko funneled a series of $590 checks through companies held by Stephen Botes, who was seeking a $2.5 million state Education Department contract, prosecutors said. He is on trial along with his colleague Peter Steyn, who is accused of helping to steer thousands of dollars into Schrenko's failed campaign.

Schrenko's former campaign manager, Merle Temple, was charged Wednesday with obstruction of justice on suspicion of leaking information to Schrenko's attorneys, authorities said.

Temple had earlier pleaded guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy and theft of public funds and was expected to be a star witness in the Schrenko case before the plea agreement.

Schrenko became school superintendent in 1994, making history as the first woman elected to a statewide, nonjudicial post in Georgia, and one of the highest-ranking Republicans in a state that had been dominated by Democrats since Reconstruction.

She was re-elected in 1998, then decided against re-election in favor of a bid to unseat Democrat Gov. Roy Barnes. She lost the GOP primary to Sonny Perdue, who went on to beat Barnes.