Ex-Detroit school vendor Norman Shy gets 5 years in prison in $2.7M scam

The prosecutor called him a "killer of dreams." The defendant said he made "a horrible mistake" in stealing from Detroit schoolchildren.

In the end, millionaire businessman Norman Shy, the central figure in a kickback scheme that cheated the struggling Detroit Public Schools out of $2.7 million, got a break: The 74-year-old vendor was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday, when he could have gotten two years more.

Under the terms of his plea deal, Shy faced up to seven years in prison for paying nearly $1 million in kickbacks to 12 principals and an assistant superintendent as a reward for approving his phony invoices. Prosecutors urged the judge to give Shy up to 87 months, no less than 70.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/09/06/ex-detroit-school-vendor-norman-shy-gets-5-years-prison-27-million-scam/89904996/