Ex Delaware Charter Leader Sean Moore Facing 30 Years In Federal Prison For Stealing School Funds

22 months after serious allegations arose regarding theft of school funds, justice finally caught up with Sean Moore.  The former Family Foundations Academy co-director faced a federal judge today and said he was guilty.  When any public schools gets federal funds and some of those federal funds are stolen, the feds get first dibs on prosecution.  But Moore made it easy for them by pleading guilty today.  He faces sentencing on March 2nd, 2017.

The Family Foundations Academy was probably my first really big investigative piece.  It began during their charter renewal process in December of 2014 and stretched out the next few months.  I don’t know how much my initial reporting on Moore and fellow co-director Tennell Brewington’s activities led to what happened today.  The feds rolled these charges down a couple of months ago.  So why did it take so long for Moore to enter a plea?  From what I’m hearing, they had to find him first.  That took some doing.

Moore’s fellow co-director, Tennell Brewington, is gainfully employed in Delaware.  She was terminated from Family Foundations Academy when Moore took over the school during his brief coup-detat but she too was found to have stolen money from the school.  Initial reports indicated she did not take as much money as Moore, but if she used any federal funds she too would face a federal judge.  If not, I’m still waiting on Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn to do something.  And what about Noel Rodriguez from Academy of Dover?  I guess these things take time.

From the United States Department of Justice:

WILMINGTON, Del. – Charles M. Oberly, III, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today that Sean Moore, age 43, of New Castle, Del., pleaded guilty to three counts of federal program theft before U.S. District Judge Richard G. Andrews.  Moore is scheduled to be sentenced on March 2, 2017.

According to court records and statements made in open court, between July 1, 2011 and January 31, 2015, while serving as the Director of Finance and Operations for the Family Foundations Academy, a charter school in New Castle, Del., Moore embezzled $161,871 from the school. 

Moore accomplished this embezzlement in a number of ways.  First, Moore charged personal expenses to an unauthorized credit card he opened in the name of the school.  Moore also abused the State of Delaware’s voucher program, by which charter schools are permitted to submit qualified expenses for reimbursement, and the State of Delaware’s procurement card system, by which the State of Delaware issues credit cards to charter school administrators to purchase necessary school supplies.  In addition, Moore stole money from the school’s fundraising account, which consisted of money collected from parents of school students, local sponsors, and an after-school program.  Moore also took money from the school’s construction loan account.

Moore used the embezzled money for personal expenses such as retail purchases, home improvement purchases, electronics, auto loan payments, auto services and accessories, federal tax payments, groceries, entertainment, food, gas, travel, gifts and collectibles, shoes, hotels, jewelry, train tickets, and video games. 

During this time, the Family Foundations Academy received significant federal funding, which provides the basis for the federal program theft charges.  The maximum penalty for each count is ten years in prison followed by a three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Education – Office of the Inspector General, and the Delaware Attorney General’s Office, with assistance from the Delaware Office of Auditor of Accounts.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth L. Van Pelt is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

I would like to know how Moore could settle with the Board of Directors at FFA over stolen funds.  If he stole $161k in funds and settled with them for $67k, as per WDEL, that is $94,000 in lost education funding for Delaware kids.  That is some serious coin.  And Moore only paid back $13k of that settlement amount.  But he will face jail time.  That is all but a guarantee.

Former Family Foundations Academy Sean Moore FINALLY Gets Fed Charges!!!!

It’s about time!  After almost two years of waiting for Sean Moore to get charged with something, information comes out that he is being charged by the feds for theft.  This very quick blurb in the News Journal states Moore has three federal counts against him.  As most folks in Delaware know, Moore, along with his co-charter leader/co-conspirator Dr. Tennell Brewington, both formerly with Family Foundations Academy in New Castle, DE, got busted after a forensic audit showed they spent over $150,000 in school funds for personal use.  They were terminated and the school could have closed if a nearby charter school didn’t essentially take them over.

I was curious why Moore was charged by the feds and not Brewington.  Either they haven’t announced anything for her yet or her theft of taxpayer money for personal use didn’t involve anything with federal dollars.

Now we just have to wait for the other former charter thieves, Noel Rodriguez of Academy of Dover and Shanna Simmens of Providence Creek Academy, to get their charges.  Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn hinted to me almost a year ago that “other parties” were looking at these situations.  As I waited and waited, with nothing coming out, I took it upon myself to contact the FBI about this earlier in the spring.  I imagine Denn’s hands were tied once the feds became involved and he obviously couldn’t say anything concrete about it.  I’m glad he was on the up and up about it though.

This is the only information I could find on these charges, but it looks like the Associated Press picked up on it because the same story appears in the Washington Post and many other media outlets.  There is an important lesson here: don’t steal from kids.  This is what happens when you get caught!  As more information on this becomes available I will certainly give updates.  I can’t find the actual court filing yet, but once information becomes available, you will know!