James Call
Tentacles slithering from a corruption investigation in Tallahassee indicate a made-for-TV movie may be in the works.
The Tallahassee Democrat is working the story.
The FBI, a federal grand jury and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are looking into 17 Leon County school-construction projects dating to 2007. The FBI has seized the school district’s email system archive. It is said to be looking for a specific email about a specific project at a middle school.
Schools Superintendent Jackie Pons has said the district broke up construction projects into smaller jobs — avoiding competitive bids requirements — to spread the work around during the Great Recession.
Woody Hildebrandt, the principal of Lively Technical Center and now on unpaid administrative leave, has been working as an FBI informant since 2013, according to court records. The former elementary and high school principal is under investigation, accused of stealing material from the vocational high school for use on his private property and ordering his staff “to pad time sheets” so they could give one of his sons odd jobs on campus and pay him in cash.
In a whistle-blower lawsuit against the school district, Hildebrandt said he informed the FBI the district superintendent had received illegal campaign contributions. After he talked to the FBI, he said his relationship with Pons deteriorated.
The backstory also involves a high-ranking district administrator being arrested this past summer along the Franklin County coast in a school district vehicle where police found an ounce of cocaine.
Given the small-town aspects of the Capital City — everyone you meet seems to be only one-degree separated from someone you know — if the feds find something to take to court, this story has potential to tar a lot of people.
