A former employee with the Broward County (Fla.) school district has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for accepting bribes from a contractor who received a contract with the district.
The Miami Herald reports that Richard Allen Ellis Jr., 50, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz.
Ellis pleaded guilty in July to four counts of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
He was a supervisor for the physical plant operations division of the Broward County district when he committed the crimes, court records show.
One of his job duties was to process work orders for repairs at public schools across the district. He would assign these projects to contractors and then ensure that the work was completed.
Authorities say that in 2018, Ellis accepted four bribes that totaled more than $6,000 from the representative of a contractor who had done repair work for the district.
In exchange for the bribes, Ellis agreed to keep the repair work flowing to the contractor and to fast-track payments.
