Former head of Philadelphia charter school gets prison term for stealing funds

From The Philadelphia Inquirer: The former head of a Philadelphia charter school has been sentenced to serve more than three years in prison for plundering the school's coffers. Kevin M. O'Shea, who had led the Philadelphia Academy Charter School, also was ordered to repay $900,000 to the school and forfeit $500,000 to the federal government. The judge called for more scrupulous government oversight of charters schools so "this type of criminal activity is not allowed to be repeated."

JULY 2009...from The Philadelphia Inquirer: Kevin O'Shea, the former top administrator of the Philadelphia Academy Charter School, has pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks from contractors and plundering the school's coffers to pay for home improvements. O'Shea faces up to 33 years in prison after admitting to mail fraud, theft from a federally funded program, and filing a false tax return. Prosecutors have not provided a complete tally of O'Shea's misdeeds at the school, but the former chief executive officer says he misused as much as $1 million from the publicly funded academy between March 2002 and May 2008.