Apparently, exchanging “gifts” and then approving certain contractors is a crime that can result in spending time in a federal prison.
A former Pleasantville school board member who took bribes in exchange for helping to steer school district contracts is headed to federal prison.
Maurice “Pete” Callaway was ordered Friday to serve 15 months. He also was fined $2,000 and must serve three years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.
Callaway was among a dozen people — including 11 public officials — arrested in September 2007 after a statewide federal corruption investigation. He was among five Pleasantville school board members charged in the probe, and all five have either pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.
Callaway pleaded guilty in November 2007 to an attempted extortion charge, admitting that he accepted $13,000 in bribes to help a cooperating roofing business and an undercover insurance brokerage company get public contracts.