Former Prince George’s County schools Superintendent Andre Hornsby was found guilty on six charges stemming from accusations that he used his job to steer school contracts in exchange for kickbacks on Wednesday.
A federal jury in Greenbelt convicted Hornsby, 54, of wire fraud, witness and evidence tampering, and obstruction of justice.
He was acquitted on two counts, and the jury was hung on 14 others.
Hornsby’s sentencing is set for Oct. 20, and he has been ordered to surrender his passport.
He faces a maximum of 90 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to retry the former schools chief on the outstanding charges.
“Public officials must pursue the public interest and not line their own pockets at taxpayer expense,” U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said.
According to testimony in the five-week trial, Hornsby steered contracts to two companies that netted Hornsby hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A video of Hornsby meeting with a woman at a hotelin Bowie showed that Hornsby agreed to receive more than $100,000 and accepted $1,000 in cash as a down payment.
Hornsby proposed different methods to evade detection of the payments, including arranging to buy valuable items for him such as property, a truck, art and a yacht, prosecutors said.
The jury found that Hornsby instructed school personnel to destroy backup computer tapes containing his and other employees’ e-mail after learning of the federal investigation.
He also lied to auditors, the jury found.
This was the second time that Hornsby has been tried on the corruption charges.
In November, U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus declared a mistrial in the corruption case following seven days of deliberations without reaching a verdict.
