Administrator's Tutoring Business Scammed DPS Out of $1.2M: Feds

DETROIT, MI – The Justice Department on Monday filed criminal charges against the owner of a tutoring company who was paid $1.275 million services investigators said were never delivered to Detroit Public Schools schools.

Carolyn Starkey-Darden, 69, was charged with defrauding a federal program, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said in a statement.

Starkey-Darden, formerly the school district’s director of grant development, is accused of starting a tutoring company and billing the struggling school district for services that were never delivered. The alleged fraud occurred over a seven-year period, from 2005-2012.

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The announcement came almost two months after McQuade’s office charged 14 people with fraud in a $1 million bribery and kickback scandal. A dozen current and former DPS principals and an assistant superintendent, along with vendor Norman Shy, of Franklin, were charged in the scheme.

If convicted, Starkey-Darden could go to prison for 10 years and face fines of up to $250,000 on the charge of federal program theft.

David P. Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Division, said Detroit students “were cheated twice by this scheme.”

“Students that needed tutoring never received it, and money that could have been spent on other resources was paid to Ms. Starkey-Darden as part of her fraud scheme,” he said.

See Also

• 13 Detroit School Administrators Stole $1M: Feds
• Ellen DeGeneres Reveals $500K Surprise for Detroit School
• Ellen’s $500K Gift to Detroit School Still On Despite Bribery Scandal
• Key Figure in DPS Corruption Lived Large in Farmington Hills
• Vendor in School $2.7M Corruption Case Pleads Guilty