By Ashley Perham, Coal Valley News
BOONE COUNTY, W.Va. — The former Boone County Board of Education maintenance director has been indicted on federal charges for defrauding the board of $3.4 million, according to court documents.
According to the Tuesday indictment, Michael David Barker, 47, of Foster, Boone County, is accused of falsifying documents to show that the board was receiving a large amount of janitorial and custodial products from Kentucky-based Rush Enterprises, the company owned by alleged co-conspirator Jesse Marks.
In fact, the board did not receive as many of these products as Barker’s paperwork claimed, the indictment says.
Fraud scheme
Barker and Marks “conspired to overbill the Boone County School System for the undelivered products and split the proceeds from the fraudulent scheme,” the indictment says.
Barker received approximately $2 million through the scheme, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, Barker worked in his position as maintenance director for about eight years. He started ordering products from Marks around August 2020.
