State Rep Kerry Burt formally charged in tuition fraud case

State Representative Kerry Burt (D-Waterloo) faces criminal charges.  Details below.

Formal Charges Filed Relating to Malcolm Price Lab School in Cedar Falls

Statement of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office:

            The Attorney General’s Office filed formal criminal charges Friday in Black Hawk County District Court alleging that nine persons committed one or more counts of tampering with records related to Malcolm Price Laboratory School in Cedar Falls.

            The formal charges, called a “Trial Information,” follow criminal Complaints and Affidavits filed April 7 against the same nine defendants with the same allegations. 

            The Complaints filed in April alleged defendants tampered with records who used false addresses as they registered a child for the 2007-8 or 2008-9 school year.

More background and detail:  

            District Court Judge James Coil set an arraignment date of June 4 for all defendants.  He continued the defendants’ status of being released on their own recognizance.

            Defendants named in the Trial Informations filed Friday, and the number of counts alleged of tampering with records, are:  Angela Bigelow, Cedar Falls, one count; Connie Bigelow, Cedar Falls, one count; Kerry Burt, Waterloo, two counts; Flora Dekock, Cedar Falls, one count; Kristi Eastman, Waterloo, three counts; Todd Eastman, Waterloo, three counts; Angie Gilbert, Waterloo, three counts; Stephanie Hovey, Cedar Falls, one count; Cheryl Longnecker, Cedar Falls, one count.

            Tampering with records is an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of $625 to $6250.

            The Complaints and Affidavits filed in April alleged that parents of Price Laboratory School students listed false addresses on school records to indicate their children lived in the Price Lab School zone when in fact the pupils lived elsewhere in Cedar Falls or Waterloo and not in the Price Lab School zone.  The Complaints and Affidavits said students registered as living in the Price Lab School “residential or buffer zone” were charged much lower fees than students who lived outside the zone.

            Go to www.state.ia.us/government/ag/latest_news/releases/apr_2010/Price_Lab.html  for details and documents of the April 7 Complaint and Affidavit filings.   Go to www.IowaAttorneyGeneral.gov for Trial Information documents filed May 21, 2010.

            The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is serving in the role of prosecutor in the matter, at the request of the Black Hawk County Attorney.

            A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.