Ex-Dallas County Schools Superintendent To Be Sentenced For Fraud

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - One of the men who played a role in the demise of the agency once responsible for getting tens of thousands of students to and from school in Dallas County will soon be sentenced for his role in a corruption scheme.

Rick Sorrells agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud in April, in a case that contributed to the shutdown the Dallas County Schools bus agency.

Prosecutors say Sorrells, the former superintendent of Dallas County Schools, accepted millions of dollars in payments for contracts that landed the bus service agency in debt.

The federal government charged Sorrells with receiving $3 million in bribes and kickback payments to secure contracts with a company that put stop-arm cameras on school buses. In all, Sorrells entered into $70 million in contracts with the company.

Voters shut down Dallas County Schools last year and Sorrells pled guilty to fraud for his role in the scheme. Sorrells faces a maximum of $250,000 and no more than 20 years in prison.

Sorrells and more than a dozen other people are also defendants in a new lawsuit that claims the bus service agency, and taxpayers are the victims of racketeering.

When Dallas County Schools dissolved school districts in Dallas, Richardson, Irving and Cedar Hill all became responsible for their own transportation. The districts spent the summer hiring bus drivers ahead of the new school year.