D.C. government analyst sentenced to jail for stealing nearly $490,000 from the city

A former grants management analyst for D.C. schools has been sentenced to more than 4½ years in federal prison for stealing nearly half a million dollars from the city — yet another scandal involving the District’s troubled education system.

The Office of the U.S. Attorney, the FBI Washington Field Office and the D.C. inspector general jointly announced Tuesday that Shauntell Harley, 48, has been sentenced to 56 months in prison and is required to pay $488,311 in restitution to the District’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE).

After serving her prison sentence, she will be placed on three years of supervised release.

Under a plea agreement, Harley pleaded guilty in March to two federal charges of conspiracy to commit bribery. She admitted to having taken bribes in exchange for rubber-stamping payments to fake invoices for OSSE, where she worked as a management analyst for fiscal policy and grant management in the Division of Special Education.

In her OSSE job, Harley was responsible for requesting services through the city government’s procurement system and reviewing invoices from service providers.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, beginning in 2012, Harley agreed to create fake reimbursement requests for work in early intervention and professional development supposedly done by a company run by D.C. businessman Vashawn Strader, 39. From 2012 to 2013, Strader collected $308,311 in OSSE reimbursements and paid Harley $43,900 in the scheme.

In 2013 and 2014, Harley repeated the scheme with fraudulent OSSE invoices for a different firm that the U.S. attorney did not name. She billed OSSE for $179,999 for work that was never done, and the company owner paid Harley about $59,000 in the scheme.

Strader pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. He is awaiting sentencing, but under a plea deal, he is required to pay $308,311 in restitution to OSSE and an identical amount in a forfeiture judgment.

OSSE did respond to requests for comment or questions about whether it has updated it review procedures for expense reports. The agency previously told The Washington Post that Harley was fired in 2015.

The sentencing comes during a rocky year for D.C. education.

Inspector general reports showed that the District’s public schools inflated graduation rates left only 42 percent of students “on track” to graduate, according to OSSE data.

Mayor Muriel Bowser then vetoed a bill that would have allowed some students who were “moderately off-track” to graduate amid the outcry of parents and the D.C. Council, which had passed the measure during its last legislative session this month.

Dissatisfaction with the city’s education system mounted when former schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson and a deputy mayor resigned after another report revealed that Mr. Wilson had broke his own prohibition on midyear school transfers in order to move his daughter to the coveted Wilson High School.

Not long after, more reports revealed widespread residency fraud across the D.C. school system, with officials estimating the city could be owed nearly $600,000 in unpaid tuition fees.