Jury convicts 13th Detroit school principal involved in bribery scheme

[TexasTowelie]

DETROIT -- All but one of the 13 former principals and Detroit Public Schools employees accused in a rampant kickback scheme in March entered into plea deals with the government.

Not Josette Buendia.

The 51-year-old ex-principal of Bennett Elementary School elected to go to trial. She lost.

A jury on Friday found Buendia guilty on three counts of conspiracy to commit bribery, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

She faces up to five years in prison.

Read more: http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/12/jury_convicts_final_detroit_sc.html

[MichMan]

1. Detroiters deserve so much better than this

The amount of corruption in Detroit government just keeps on occurring again and again. The amount of money stolen from the taxpayers adds up to tens of millions. While the citizens of Detroit certainly don't deserve this behavior, they have also made some very poor choices on who they elect.

1) Former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick currently in prison for 28 yrs for RICO convictions, money laundering and bribery. Also convicted for 21 years was contractor Bobby Ferguson. The pair conspired in the awarding of city contracts that ultimately cost taxpayers millions.

Chief of staff Christine Beatty convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury

2) Kilpatrick aide Derrick Miller convicted of tax evasion

3) Kwame's father Bernard Kilpatrick convicted of tax evasion

4) Water chief Victor Mercado convicted of conspiracy

5) Former city council president Monica Conyers (wife on long time congressman John) convicted of bribery and forced to resign

6) Former city council president Charles Pugh recently convicted of child molestation

7) 13 school principals convicted of accepting kickbacks and bribes for steering contracts to vendors

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. They might deserve better, but ...

... with Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, Detroit Public Schools will just face more hardships.