Ex-SC school employee going to prison for years for scamming taxpayers, prosecutor says
A former employee of a Midlands school district who scammed his bosses and South Carolina taxpayers out of more than a half million dollars is going to prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On Wednesday, David Cortez Marshall Jr. was sentenced to about three years in federal prison for defrauding the Orangeburg County School District of more than $550,000 as a part of a scheme during the COVID-19 pandemic, acting U.S. Attorney Corey Ellis said in a news release.
In January, the 31-year-old Orangeburg resident pleaded guilty to defrauding the school district, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Judge Mary Lewis sentenced Marshall to 33 months imprisonment, to be followed by a three-year term of court-ordered supervision, according to the release. There is no parole in the federal system.
Marshall was also ordered to pay approximately $600,000 in restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
He could have faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Fraud of any nature is illegal and wrong, but fraud against a public school — in the middle of a pandemic — is unconscionable,” Ellis said in the release. “Mr. Marshall’s prison sentence reflects the seriousness of his offense and our dedication to deterring public fraud. His restitution order ensures that he’ll be obligated to pay back every penny he stole from the public.”
The scheme
Marshall worked for the Orangeburg County School District as a media communications specialist in 2020, and he created a scheme to defraud the district while purchasing remote learning cameras for school classrooms, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Through the use of shell companies, fabricated documents, forged signatures and a false identity, Marshall steered the district’s purchasing contracts to companies he created and controlled, purchased the cameras, then sold them to the school at a substantial markup, according to the release.
Marshall also received funds from the school district for the cameras that he never paid to the seller, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
His scheme was eventually discovered by other school district employees, who confronted Marshall and reported him to the FBI, according to the release.
“Today, justice was served, and a criminal was held accountable,” FBI Columbia Special Agent in Charge Susan Ferensic said in the release. “Our work is not finished. We will continue to hold perpetrators accountable and see that their crimes are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
Facing charges in South Carolina
On Monday, Marshall was charged with state crimes.
He’s facing three counts of tax evasion for failing to report $1.1 million in sales from his technology company, the South Carolina Department of Revenue said.
From 2019-2021, Marshall operated Level 8 Communications LLC, a technology company, according to the Department of Revenue. But during that time, he failed to report $1.1 million in sales while collecting $74,416 in sales tax through misrepresentation and use of shell companies, the Department of Revenue said. He is accused of not remitting the taxes and using several bank accounts to conceal his activities, according to the Department of Revenue.
Level 8 Communications was one of the shell companies Marshall created, along with Flex Technologies LLC and Orangeburg County Purchasing LLC during his scam of the Orangeburg County School District, according the the federal charge.
Marshall was taken to the Orangeburg County Detention Center Monday and was issued personal recognizance bonds for a combined $30,000 on the charges, court records show. He’s scheduled to appear in court again on the tax evasion charges Aug. 8, according to judicial records.
If convicted on the state charges, Marshall faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each charge, according to South Carolina law. Marshall would also be responsible for the cost of prosecution, according to the Department of Revenue.
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This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 10:53 AM.
