COLUMBUS – A finding for recovery of $543,478 was issued Tuesday against the former superintendent of a Cincinnati charter school, who was convicted earlier this year after a janitorial business he controlled was improperly contracted to provide services to the school.

Roger T. Conners pleaded guilty in March 2023 to a felony count of having an unlawful interest in a public contract and was sentenced in April 2023 to five years of community control, fined $1,000, and barred from holding any fiduciary position or having a government contract for five years.

Details of the investigation into Conners’ crime were released Tuesday as part of a special audit conducted by the Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU). The report is available online (ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/search.aspx).

SIU launched an investigation in May 2018 after being contacted by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office about Conners’ involvement with MC Services, a vendor used by the Cincinnati Technology Academy.

Conners served as superintendent of the school from July 2013 until his firing in March 2022. From April 2014 through July 2021, SIU determined that the school issued 147 checks totaling $543,478 to MC Services to provide janitorial, housekeeping and maintenance services. 

Though bank accounts for the vendor were set up in other people’s names, Conners controlled the business and personally benefited from the payments it received, contrary to state law.

Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 115 convictions resulting in more than $8.2 million in restitution (see Map of SIU Convictions?since January 2019). The team receives hundreds of tips of suspected fraud annually. Tips can be submitted anonymously online or via SIU’s fraud hotline at 866-FRAUD-OH (866-372-8364).

###

The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 5,900 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates, and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government. 

Contact:
Marc Kovac
press@ohioauditor.gov