NAPPANEE, Ind. – Just how easy is it to pick the pockets of public schools, even when the theft is not an inside job?

And just how much money do schools waste every year on unscrupulous vendors?

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An audit conducted by the Indiana State Board of Accounts has revealed that a Kentucky company – Continental Maintenance Specialties – overcharged Wa-Nee Community Schools, based in Nappanee – more than $23,000 over the past 10 years for a liquid drain maintenance product.

According to the Goshen News, “The school corporation paid $29,051 for 495 gallons of kitchen drain maintenance products between July 1, 2005 and June 20, 2014, according to the report. The ‘maximum reasonable cost’ for the product should have been $5,282.10, the report said.”

There’s reason to suspect the overcharge was not accidental.

Gregory Schroeder, the former director of buildings and grounds for the Warsaw, Indiana school district, was recently arrested after allegedly admitting to school officials that he had been accepting kickbacks from Continental Maintenance Specialties – worth about $115,000 – for arranging transactions between the school district and the company in a non-competitive manner.

“Warsaw Police Department investigators found that Schroeder received $115,620.87 in kickbacks, including a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, according to a press release. Schroeder was charged with corrupt business influence, bribery, official misconduct and theft, according to court documents,” the news report said.

Another news report suggested that Schroeder’s alleged wrongdoing was probably made possible due to a lack of financial oversight by school district officials. They apparently weren’t paying any attention to where the money was going or what it was being purchased.

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A report from TheIndyChannel.com said, “As part of the audit, the State Board of Accounts noted the school corporation failed to solicit quotes for the purchase of drain maintenance chemicals, herbicide, liquid ice melt, and weed killer, which is required by law. Auditors also noted the district lacked sufficient internal controls over purchases and receipt of goods.”

Wa-Nee school officials say they had no way of knowing they were being overcharged, and only cancelled their account with the company after learning about the alleged fraud in Warsaw.

“When you take that amount and divide it by 10 years over five schools and nine months of billings, there were no red flags,” Wa-Nee Superintendent Joe Sabo told GoshenNews.com. “We probably wouldn’t have ever known about this if not for the issue in Warsaw.

“When we found out what was going on in Warsaw, we immediately terminated that relationship and started getting that product from another source.”

Perhaps a local reporter, or concerned citizens, will do some digging and double-checking, to make sure the district really was paying attention, and really had no reasonable way of knowing it was being ripped off.