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In August 2004, WRAL first reported about a fraud investigation in which at least $4 million was diverted from the Wake County Public School System in an automotive parts scheme involving then-employees of the school system's transportation department and a Wilson-based automotive parts company, Barnes Motors & Parts.
Investigators said the suspects submitted fake orders for auto parts and bought gift cards, trucks, boats, trailers and other high-priced items for themselves.
To date, seven people, including five former school system employees and two former Barnes' employees, have been convicted and sentenced for their roles in the fraud scheme. Sentences range from 60 days to 15 years in prison.
The Wake County school system has recovered an estimated $5 million.
Former employees of the Wake County Public School System and a Wilson-based automotive parts supplier are working again while they serve prison sentences for their roles in a fraud scheme.
Johnston County authorities were called Thursday evening to a house in Benson registered to Harold Estes.
Harold Estes' request to save himself $500,000 was denied. Records show Estes owns multiple properties valued at almost $1 million.
The only person not to plead guilty in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving the Wake County Public School System lost his appeal Tuesday.
A former Wake County school system administrator cannot withdraw his guilty plea in connection with a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme, the North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled.
A man convicted in connection with a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving the Wake County Public School System will have his case heard before the North Carolina Court of Appeals in September.
One year after the Wake County school system closed the book on a multimillion-dollar fraud case within its transportation department, a state inspection shows discrepancies with its bus-parts inventory continue.
The last person charged in the Wake County Schools fraud case was sentenced Tuesday to 20 to 33 months in prison.
After nearly a year of investigating, authorities made their first arrest in the Wake County Public Schools transportation scandal.
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