City manages to catch smaller fish in fraud charges

Ronald White and Corey Kemp were not the only ones with wiretapped phones, and their scandal is not the only one in Philadelphia.

On June 2, six people were accused of scamming the Community College of Philadelphia. As in the White/Kemp case, the indictment is based on a series of wiretapped phone conversations.

According to the indictment, Delores Weaver, former director of the Adult Basic Education program at CCP, conspired with Faridah Ali, assistant director of education at the Sister Clara Muhammad School, to obtain public funds for classes that never took place.

"The only ones taken to school here were the taxpayers," U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said in a press release.

"The taxpayers who fund programs like this learned how people can systematically steal not just government grant money but someone's opportunity to improve themselves through education."

Faridah Ali is the wife of Imam Shamsud-din Ali. Imam Ali's name was first picked up by the FBI during an investigation on a drug ring, and his conversations with city officials and politicians gave FBI the basis for tapping White's phone.

The U.S. Attorney's office stated that the investigation into this case is ongoing but refused to comment on the possibility of Imam Ali as a suspect, except to say that he has not been charged.

The ABE program at CCP provided English as a Second Language, General Equivalency Diplomas, and job training classes at no charge to adults. The classes were held at community sites around Philadelphia.

From fall 1999 to winter 2001, the SCM School was registered as one such site. But according to the indictment, no ESL, GED, or job training classes ever took place there.

The CCP was conned into paying at least $224,000 in teacher's salaries to Weaver's son, Eugene Weaver III, and Ali's children, Lakiha and Azheem Spicer.

In addition, $21,600 in rent was paid by CCP to the SCM School, -- money that Weaver and Ali diverted for their own use, the U.S. Attorney's office alleged.

All six defendants pleaded not guilty, and all were released on bail. The trial date is set for July 26, in Judge John P. Fullam's Eastern Pennsylvania Federal District court.

Both the CCP and the Pennsylvania Department of Education declined to comment.

However, the CCP did issue a media statement, saying that "the College moved immediately to disengage from the adult education program in questiotionAlso, "the College instituted new internal controls two years ago that protect us and our students against similar situations."

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