DISTRICT BRIEFING
DISTRICT BRIEFING
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page B04
SCHOOL BRIBERY CASE
Former Moten Principal Pleads Not Guilty
A former D.C. school principal pleaded not guilty in federal court yesterday to charges of accepting kickbacks as part of a scheme to bill the school system for supplies and work that were never provided.
George Smitherman was principal of Moten Elementary School in Southeast Washington from 1991 until leaving the school system in December 2002. During his tenure at Moten, Smitherman secretly arranged with a Moten administrative assistant for the school to pay a Maryland company and a separate shell company $100,000 for custodial and computer-related supplies and services that never existed, according to an indictment returned last month.
Smitherman, according to the indictment, got kickbacks of $11,000 from Charles C. Wiggins, a Maryland businessman who helped in the scheme. Wiggins pleaded guilty in January to one count of providing bribes to Smitherman. The former Moten administrative assistant, Lorelle Dance, pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy.
-- Carol D. Leonnig and V. Dion Haynes
POISONED-FOOD CONVICTION
Woman Sentenced to 15 Years in Mail Threats
A Connecticut woman convicted of mailing poisoned food to high-level government officials, including Supreme Court justices and the director of the FBI, was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan sentenced Barbara Joan March, 60, of Bridgeport, who pleaded guilty to the 14-count indictment in March. She acknowledged that in April 2005 she mailed 14 letters to government officials, and each envelope contained a bakery item or piece of candy laced with rat poison and a note warning that they were going to be killed.
-- Carol D. Leonnig
