Culver gets 7-year prison term in Bibb school fraud case, says, ‘I’m a good man’

Isaac J. Culver III, convicted in July of defrauding Bibb County public schools in a $3.7-million computing deal more than half a decade ago, was on Thursday sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison.

At trial in U.S. District Court here, Culver was found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and another count of conspiracy to launder money.

Sentencing guidelines revealed Thursday that Culver, the president and CEO of Progressive Consulting Technologies Inc., could have been sent to prison for up to nine years.

Culver’s business partner, Dave Carty, faces similar fraud charges and will be tried early next year.

At Thursday’s sentencing, Progressive was ordered to begin paying a $500,000 fine.

Culver’s crimes were connected to a $3.7-million computing deal between his company and the Bibb school system in late 2012. His scheme came to light after now-departed school superintendent Romain Dallemand’s controversial tenure ended in early 2013 and officials began scrutinizing contracts and transactions on Dallemand’s watch.

Culver’s company was hired and paid $1 million by the schools to oversee parts of a multimillion-dollar computing upgrade.

Prosecutors at trial said Culver’s firm doctored up a “bogus invoice” and in the process illegally used and duped an Ohio tech company into acting as a go-between or pass-through. Culver “secretly marked up” the purchase price for 15,000 computing devices that the Bibb schools paid for and made the school system think it had bought the computers from the Ohio outfit.

In court Thursday, prosecutor Elizabeth S. Howard said “the true victims” in the case were Bibb schoolchildren who were “robbed” of technologically-enhanced educations because Culver’s scheme hamstrung an already-struggling school system, whose out-of-date computers were “woefully behind” the times.

She also referred to a 21-minute video that Culver’s lawyers played in court that included praise from friends and relatives who shared kind words and fond recollections of Culver’s childhood in Wheeler County.

Some who appeared in the video, notable locals among them, said the charges against Culver, 48, “don’t match the person,” that he was “giving” and “kind” and that his conviction “does not reflect who Isaac is.”

Howard said the video “ignored entirely” the harm he had a hand in causing Macon’s public schools.

Later, as Culver, the former chairman of the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce, stood before Judge Marc T. Treadwell for sentencing, Culver said, “I want to start off by apologizing to the court, my family and my community. … I’m not a bad person.”

Dressed in a tan sport coat and gray slacks, Culver read from a prepared statement as he asked the judge for mercy and forgiveness. He said in his 30 years as a businessman that he had never been in court and never done anything illegal.

“Myself and Progressive had every intention of installing (computing) devices and making this project successful,” Culver said. “As you know, your honor, I disagree with the jury verdict. But I respect the system. I am also sorry and remorseful for what happened. I’m particularly sorry we were unable to complete this project.

“When I started this project,” he went on, “it was with the best of intentions. I am so sorry ... I did not deliver on those intentions. ... I should have done better. The real losers here are my family, the kids attending Bibb public schools and Progressive’s workforce.”

Culver added, “It’s been hard to reconcile my conviction with the person that I know I am, the person I was raised to be. ... I’m a good man who made a mistake.”

When time came to sentence Culver, Treadwell acknowledged the roles of “others” in the case who were not prosecuted and said that nothing he had heard from Culver and Culver’s supporters in court was inconsistent with Culver’s reputation around town.

“I accept all that,” the judge said. “On the other hand, the evidence in this case was overwhelming. ... I can appreciate the frustration that others perhaps more culpable than you were, in various schemes involving the school district, will receive less punishment, or perhaps no punishment at all. Believe me, I can appreciate it. ... The fact remains that the jury found here, based on more than ample evidence, that you were guilty.”

Culver will be allowed to surrender to prison officials later.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.

This story was originally published November 15, 2018 at 1:38 PM.