Former D.C. charter chief gets 35 months

Brenda Belton, the former Washington, D.C., charter schools executive, has been sentenced to serve 35 months in prison. Belton, was responsible for monitoring 17 charter schools for the Washington, D.C., school system from 2003 to 2006, was convicted of stealing and illegally steering more than $800,000 in school system money.
Click here to read The Washington Post article.

EARLIER: Brenda Belton, former charter school oversight chief for the Washington, D.C., school board, has pleaded guilty to four felony counts. She admitted to arranging about $649,000 in illegal school payments and sweetheart contracts to herself and her friends. (Washington Post)

A former Washington, D.C., charter school official is expected 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. Brenda L. Belton was fired last year from her job overseeing 17 public charter schools. She faces five counts: theft from a program receiving public funds; conversion of public money; bankruptcy fraud; and federal and local tax evasion. (Washington Post)