ORANGEBURG, S.C. — A former Orangeburg County School District employee is facing a federal judge next month after allegedly duping the district out of more than half a million dollars.
According to federal court documents, Orangeburg County Schools sought to buy cameras for remote teaching during the pandemic. The district tasked its then media communications specialist, David Cortez Marshall Jr., with buying 875 cameras from classrooms.
That’s when federal charges say Marshall’s scheme started.
In the case, the defendant is charged with wire fraud after he allegedly defrauded the district and a camera company called Owl Labs between October 2020 and February 2021.
Federal prosecutors say Marshall used "corporate alter egos" to buy cameras from Owl Labs and then sold them to the district for a marked-up price. The charges say he also falsified tax-exempt forms to Owl Labs and charged Orangeburg County Schools $60,000 in sales tax on top of the overpriced cameras.
In all, Maxwell is accused of pocketing more than $550,000 dollars from the alleged scheme.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brook Andrews, who is representing the U.S. in this case, told News19, “the crime was discovered when the school district caught on to the scheme. They confronted Marshall about it, then reported it to the FBI.”
Andrews said the defendant is set to plead guilty to wire fraud and has a hearing on January 27 at the Matthew J. Perry Court House.
The maximum penalty for this charge is up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Following the announcement of Marshall's upcoming federal court appearance, the Orangeburg County School District released the following statement:
"We have been disappointed to discover the fraudulent activities a former employee was engaged in during his employment with our district.
The employee worked previously for Orangeburg County School District 5, and, upon consolidation, transitioned employment to OCSD until his resignation in March 2021.
Internal procurement officers first identified the concern last school year, which was originally related to investigation surrounding a purchase order and state contractor status. The District considers this a very serious matter and has appreciated the assistance of state and federal authorities in investigating our concerns. We will continue working collaboratively with law enforcement and any impacted suppliers to seek recovery of funds."
News19 reached out Marshall's attorney but has not heard back.