Tresa Baldas

Detroit Free Press

Following in the footsteps of their peers, three more Detroit principals are scheduled to appear in federal court today to be arraigned on charges they pocketed kickbacks from a millionaire school-supply vendor who rarely delivered the goods.

The three educators are among 14 individuals who were ensnared last week in a school corruption investigation that centers on a wealthy businessman who allegedly gave 12 principals and one administrator money, gift cards or other kickbacks as thank-yous for steering him business. The vendor, Norman Shy of Franklin, is charged with billing DPS $5 million for school supplies — of which $2.7 million was ill-gotten, prosecutors allege. And he did it with the help of the principals who were running the schools and had the authority to hire their own vendors, court records show.

3 DPS principals mum at arraignments in kickback scheme

Three principals were arraigned Wednesday; another three are scheduled for arraignment today. They are:

Tia’ Von Moore-Patton, 46, of Farmington Hills, principal of Jerry White Center High School. She is charged with accepting $4,000 in kickbacks from school-supply vendor Norman Shy of Franklin.

Ronnie Sims, 55, of Albion, former principal at Fleming Elementary and Brenda Scott Middle School. He is charged with accepting $58,519 in cash kickbacks from Shy.

Willye Pearsall, 65, of Warren, former principal at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School. She is charged with accepting $50,000 in kickbacks from Shy.

Most of the defendants are expected to enter into plea deals given the way they are charged. Prosecutors bypassed the grand jury method and instead charged them by way of an "information" — which is typically used when defendants are cooperating and looking to enter into plea deals rather than go to trial.

One such defendant is James Hearn, 50, of West Bloomfield, principal at Marcus Garvey Academy. He was arraigned Wednesday on charges of accepting $11,500 in kickbacks from Shy as a thank-you for using him as a school-supply vendor. Hearn said nothing to reporters about the allegations, though his lawyer said his client is looking forward to putting this behind him.

"There could be (a plea)," attorney Jeff Cojocar said after the arraignment. "He's going to be cooperating and be OK."

Also arraigned Wednesday were:

Stanley Johnson, 62, the former principal of Hutchinson Elementary-Middle School. He s charged with accepting $84,170 in kickbacks from Shy.

Nina Graves-Hicks, 52, of Detroit, former principal of Davis Aerospace Technical High School. She was arraigned on charges she accepted $27,385 in kickbacks from Shy. She, too, declined to comment on the allegation. So did her lawyer.​

At the center of the alleged scheme is the vendor. Prosecutors allege that Shy scammed Detroit schools for 13 years, cutting individual deals with principals who agreed to use him as a school-supply vendor in exchange for money — some for as little as $4,000, another for $324,000. He is charged with bribery and tax evasion. His arraignment has not yet been scheduled. His lawyer has declined comment.

Feds: 12 Detroit principals stole $1M in kickback scheme

Also charged are:

Ronald Alexander, 60, principal at Charles L. Spain Elementary — the school that received a major gift from talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, including $500,000 worth of donations from Lowe's. DeGeneres made the gift happen, though the donation is from Lowe's, which has said it is not taking back the gift in light of the corruption allegations involving the principal. Lowe's said it was upset to learn of the charges, but that it plans to stick to its commitment to help Spain Elementary repair its gym and get a new roof.

Alexander is to be arraigned on April 12.

Two more principals are to be arraigned on April 11. They are:

Clara Flowers, 61, of Detroit, an assistant superintendent of DPS’s Office of Specialized Student Services and former principal of Henderson Academy. She is charged with pocketing $324,785 in kickbacks from Shy, who allegedly sneaked the payments to her using different methods, including gift cards and writing checks to contractors who put a new roof on Flowers’ home, painted it and did gutter work.

Tanya Bowman, 48, of Novi, former principal at Osborn Collegiate Academy of Math, Science and Technology. She is charged with accepting $12,500 in kickbacks from Shy.

Others charged in the case who are still awaiting to be arraigned are:

Beverly Campbell, 66, of Southfield, a former principal at Rosa Parks School and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School, who is charged with bribery. She is charged with accepting $50,000 in cash kickbacks from Shy, who often did not deliver the goods to her school but got paid anyway with the help of phony invoices signed by Campbell, the government alleges.

Gerlma Johnson, 56, former principal at Charles Drew Academy, former principal at Earhart Elementary-Middle School and current principal of Marquette-Elementary-Middle School. She is charged with accepting $22,884 in kickbacks from Shy.

Josette Buendia, 50, of Garden City, principal at Bennett Elementary School. She is charged with accepting $45,775 in kickbacks from Shy.

Clara Smith, 67, of Southfield, principal at Thirkell Elementary-Middle School, is charged with accepting $194,000 in kickbacks from Shy.

According to retired federal Judge Steven Rhodes, who is serving as the transition manager for DPS, the school district has suspended business with Shy and all of his companies. The six principals who are current DPS employees have been placed on unpaid administrative leave and replaced by new interim leaders, he said. The other principals have already left the district.

Feds: 14 charged in DPS scheme will pay up

"I cannot overstate the outrage that I feel about the conduct that these DPS employees engaged in that led to the charges," Rhodes has said, stressing: "We want to do whatever is necessary to prevent this from happening again."

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com.