Jury Finds Isaac J. Culver, III And His Company Guilty Of All Charges For Scheme To Defraud Bibb County School District

MACON: United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, Charles E. Peeler, announces that Isaac J. Culver, III, age 48, Lizella, Georgia, and his corporation, Progressive Consulting Technologies, Inc. (PCTI) were found guilty by a jury of his peers for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, ten (10) counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of unlawful activity.

The charges against Mr. Culver, President and Chief Executive Officer of PCTI, stem from the sale of 15,000 NComputing devices for $3.7 million to upgrade classroom technology for the Bibb County School District (BCSD) in 2012.

Mr. Culver helped to create a fraudulent invoice listing CompTech, a technology company from Dayton, Ohio, as the vendor.  Instead, the true purchaser of the NComputing devices was PCTI.  As delivered, the devices were useless.  The devices did not contain the necessary equipment to be functional (i.e. mouse, keyboard, monitor, servers, etc.). 

Mr. Culver led others to believe that the purchase of NComputing devices was made pursuant to the General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule.  CompTech understood this to be why PCTI asked them to participate in this transaction.  The BCSD employees also believed that this was a GSA purchase, which meant that the transaction did not have to go through normal bidding procedures.  In reality, this transaction was not made pursuant to the GSA.

After the December 2012 sale, Mr. Culver hid the fact that PCTI was the true purchaser of the NComputing devices and he did so by continuing to use CompTech to disguise his role.  Mr. Culver did so, in part, because he and PCTI were able to net almost $2 million on the NComputing transaction alone.  Based on other statements and actions taken by Mr. Culver, there was evidence that they planned to buy these other goods, again using CompTech as a pass through, to continue to profit secretly.

“Protecting taxpayer money from fraudsters is a top priority of the Office of the United States Attorney, particularly when the fraud involves depriving the students of the Bibb County school system of necessary resources,” said United States Attorney Charles E. Peeler.  “I would like to thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Georgia Office of the Attorney General, and our trial team for their hard work in this matter.” 

“Driven by greed, Isaac Culver not only stole from the taxpayers of Bibb County, but also deprived students in the school system of much needed tools to further their education,” said Murang Pak, Acting Special Agent in Charge (A/SAC) of FBI Atlanta.  “The FBI and its law enforcement partners are determined to hold Mr. Culver and anyone else accountable for such reckless disregard for our citizens.”

“Isaac Culver tried to be clever in hiding his scheme from ever being uncovered by government officials.  The government uncovered the scheme, presented its case and the jury agreed that Mr. Culver was responsible for not only wire and mail fraud, but laundering the proceeds of the crime,” said Thomas J. Holloman, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation.  “At the end of the day, the students of Bibb County District are the victims of Mr. Culver’s fraud, and they are the ones who lost out on valuable technology.”

Each of the charges against Mr. Culver and Progressive Consulting Technologies, Inc. carry a maximum possible sentence of 20 years imprisonment.  The fine on the conspiracy to launder the proceeds of unlawful activity carries a maximum fine of $500,000.00 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater.  The other charges carry a maximum possible fine of $250,000.00 each.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service/Criminal Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Beth Howard and Danial Bennett are prosecuting the case for the Government with participation and cooperation of Special Assistant U.S. Attorney David McLaughlin from the Georgia Office of the Attorney General.