Two Mississippi school superintendents have been indicted on federal embezzlement, theft, and bribery charges.
Leake County School District superintendent Dr. Earl Joe Nelson and Hollandale School District superintendent Dr. Mario Willis were both indicted on June 12 in U.S. District Court in Northern Mississippi. The indictment alleges a fraud scheme that spanned at least a year and a half.
From November 2021 to at least June 2023, Nelson and Willis allegedly raked in tens of thousands of dollars each through funneling fraudulently inflated payments from their respective districts for consulting services that were never actually provided.
Nearly $240,000 in consulting fees were paid to companies owned by Willis, “K&S Enterprises, LLC,” and “ALM Brothers, LLC,” and Nelson, “Ira Reed Consulting, Inc.” and “N17 Group, LLC.”
The two superintendents also allegedly swiped funds from the U.S. Department of Education that had been paid to the Hollandale School District and Clarksdale School District, where Nelson was the superintendent before taking over in Leake County.
Moneka M. Smith-Taylor, a St. Louis teacher and owner of “Erudition Consulting,” was allegedly paid $250,902 by Willis and Nelson for services that were also never fulfilled. The allegations outline that Smith Taylor sent “cash kickbacks” to Willis and Nelson in return for the phony consulting contracts.
As of Monday, Willis is no longer listed as the superintendent on the Hollandale School District website. The district announced that Sarah T. Bailey is currently serving as the interim superintendent. She was most recently the assistant superintendent for Hollandale.
Nelson is still listed as the current superintendent for Leake County.
Willis faces up to 30 years in prison for embezzlement, theft, and bribery charges, while Nelson faces as many as 20 years behind bars for embezzlement and theft. Smith-Taylor faces up to 10 years for paying a bribe to an agent of an organization receiving federal funds.
In 2019, Mississippi joined the majority of U.S. school districts by shifting the school superintendent position from elected to appointed by local school boards.
Neither school district has responded to inquiries from SuperTalk Mississippi News.
