On September 29, 2011, United States Attorney George L. Beck, Jr. announced that Jonathan Michael Slaughter of Montgomery, AL entered a guilty plea to a single count of felony mail fraud related to the E-rate program. Between May 2006 and January 2009, Slaughter stole almost $900,000 from 20 school districts across the country.
According to the DoJ’s news release, Slaughter’s company, E-rate Consulting Services, LLC (“ECS”), took possession of checks payable to its school clients and deposited them in an ECS bank account. Instead of remitting the monies to ECS’ clients, ECS kept some of the funds, which were “used largely for personal expenses.”
Slaughter was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond and is to be sentenced later this year. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
