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Judge sentences E-Rate defrauder to 30 months in prison

By  |  February 9, 2012

U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Barbier has sentenced Gloria Harper to 30 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the E-Rate program through a scheme of bribes and kickbacks from 2001 to 2005. E-Rate is a federal program that subsidizes part of the cost for Internet access and telecommunications services for economically disadvantaged schools and libraries.

Harper is the former co-owner of Global Networking Technologies and former owner of Computer Training Associates. She bribed school officials in Arkansas, Florida, Illinois and Louisiana. In exchange, the officials allowed Harper and a co-conspirator to control the E-Rate bidding process to ensure that contracts were awarded to their companies.

The DOJ’s investigation of the E-Rate program has led to seven companies and 24 individuals to pleading guilty to fraud and anticompetitive conduct.

Source: DOJ Press Release