Former Detroit district administrator pleads guilty to stealing school funds

Stephen Hill, who ran the risk management department, was accused of helping to steal $3 million

May 3, 2011

2 min read

From The Detroit Free Press: Stephen Hill, a former Detroit school district executive, has pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme that looted more than $3 million from the cash-strapped district. Hill, 59, admitted he accepted about $150,000 in kickbacks from a vendor that overbilled the district for inadequate work.

From The Detroit News: A former Detroit Public Schools executive accused of raiding more than $3 million from the cash-strapped district is expected to plead guilty next month in federal court, according to court records. Stephen Hill, former executive director of the risk management department, was indicted by a federal grand jury last fall on charges of extortion, program fraud, conspiracy to commit those offenses and money laundering conspiracy. OCTOBER 2010....From The Detroit Free Press: A federal grand jury has leveled new charges against a former Detroit Public Schools executive and others in a public corruption scandal involving inflated million-dollar invoices, kickbacks and expensive parties that were thrown on the school district's dime. Stephen Hill, 59, former executive director of the district’s risk management department, was charged in a superseding indictment with demanding and accepting cash kickbacks from a local vendor. That vendor, Associates for Learning, is accused of looting more than $3 million from the school system by submitting inflated invoices. MARCH 2010...from The Detroit Free Press: A former department chief in the Detroit school district and his assistant used secret offices and their own computer system to improperly divert from than $57 million in school funds to vendors who provided little, if anything, in return. Documents in a lawsuit brought by the district allege that Stephen Hill -- director of the school system's risk management from 2001 to 2005 -- received luxury vehicles and other kickbacks. Some of the vendors who benefitted were friends or associates of Hill's or relatives of Hill's assistant.