Former D.C. School Official to Plead Guilty

Official Charged with Stealing Thousands, Steering Contracts

A former D.C. charter school official intends to plead guilty to stealing more than $400,000 in public money and steering contracts to consulting firms -- including a fictitious one -- that she or relatives and friends operated, according to documents filed in federal court.

Brenda L. Belton, who was fired last year from her job overseeing 17 public charter schools, is scheduled to appear June 25 in U.S. District Court for a plea agreement hearing before Judge Ricardo M. Urbina.

According to the "criminal information" charging document filed last week, Belton faces five counts: theft from a program receiving public funds; conversion of public money; bankruptcy fraud; and federal and local tax evasion. No other employee of the D.C. Board of Education, to whom Belton reported, was knowingly involved in or benefited from the schemes, the papers say.

"I'm very sorry for Dr. Belton and her family," said former school board vice president Carolyn N. Graham, who resigned last week. "I'm also sorry for the system itself and the fact that we didn't have the controls in place to allow for the protection of public resources in a better way."

Belton's attorney, Vincent H. Cohen Jr., and school board President Robert C. Bobb declined to comment yesterday.

The Washington Post reported in May 2006 that Belton was under federal investigation over allegations that she had ties to a contractor, Equal Access in Education. According to public records, the company's billing address at 26 Underwood Pl. NW was formerly owned by Belton and subsequently owned by her daughter, Lindsey Holmes. The Post reported in October that Equal Access in Education was paid $395,000 to train reading and math teachers at four low-performing charters but that principals at those schools said they never received the services.

According to the charging document, which was first reported by the Examiner yesterday, Belton wrongfully paid herself more than $418,000 from 2003 to 2006 and obtained seven contracts worth $444,620 without competitive bid.

Belton was hired as executive director of the school board's charter office in March 2003 to review school applications and ensure that the board's charters were complying with the law. She put together a panel to select a company to monitor the charters. The panel consisted of her daughter and Belton's maid of honor, Pearl Sandifer. It selected Equal Access Inc., which was run by three of Belton's friends. Belton, the document alleges, never submitted conflict-of-interest statements about her ties to members of the panel and company.

Later, the document says, Belton used the employer number of Equal Access Inc. to establish a fictitious firm called Equal Access in Education, changing the billing address to the Underwood Place duplex. The court filing alleges that Belton created fraudulent invoices and memoranda of understanding to keep funds flowing to the company.

The document also alleges that after filing for bankruptcy, Belton sold the home to Holmes in 2003. Belton, according to the document, created fraudulent papers showing Holmes had income so she could obtain the mortgage.

Belton also steered contracts to her friends, according to the document. She hired Sandifer to serve as liaison to the school board. Sandifer was paid $75,268 in salary and consulting fees even though she worked for only a few months. Another friend, Wanda Gordon, was paid $292,968 for consulting services.

Federal authorities began investigating Belton last year after an employee tipped them off to the possible misuse of funds. The FBI and other federal authorities raided the charter office and the Underwood Place property in May 2006.

The school board placed Belton on leave in June 2006 and fired her in October. The investigation of Belton in part prompted the board in November to give up its authority to open charter schools, leaving them to be absorbed by the city's second charter authorizer, the D.C. Public Charter School Board.

Staff writers Theola Labbé and Carol D. Leonnig contributed to this report.