Former Dallas County Schools Chief Gets Seven Years for Role in Bribery Scheme
Former Dallas County Schools Superintendent Rick Sorrells is going to spend the next seven years in prison. Sixteen months ago, Sorrells, 73, pleaded guilty to taking more than $3 million in cash and other assets from a company that stocked DCS with cameras for a program that ticketed drivers who illegally passed stopped school buses.
“You were living high on the hog,” Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn told Sorrells during his sentencing hearing, according to reporters in the federal courtroom. "You were supposed to be a faithful servant to your community ... I don’t forgive you for what you did."
Sorrells signed the district up for more than $70 million in contracts with Force Multiplier Solutions, a now-defunct Louisiana company, to provide the cameras, which were supposed to generate a big stream of revenue for the district.
The money didn't materialize — in part because of judges throwing out many of the tickets issued based on evidence from the cameras — and the district was stuck with the bill. Amid the fallout from the failed camera program and a series of managerial missteps, Dallas County voters approved dissolving DCS in November.
Read more: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dallas-school-bus-czar-gets-seven-years-in-corruption-probe-11728453