Tell me if any of this sounds familiar. A public official with the opportunity to take financial advantage of the government gets friends and relatives involved in a scheme to spread the cash around so everybody got a piece.

No, we’re not talking about the Louisville Metro Housing fiasco. A lengthy investigation in the Jefferson County Public Schools is about over, and the bad guy is going to jail. Adrian Sanford was the principal at Dixie Elementary, and was accused of a variety of crimes involving school finances.  He paid relatives for work they didn’t do and was responsible for the disappearance of $69,000.

It’s nice to see that justice is being served. Sanford was sentenced to five years in prison today. He wants the court to give him shock probation, but Judge Martin McDonald says nothing doing on that. Not until Sanford comes up with a way to pay back all the money that’s missing.

Back in September, Sanford resigned (citing health reasons, ha!) just before the ax was set to fall. He’s hoping that testifying against his former bookkeeper will help his case. Not gonna happen. Here’s the judge’s quote from the C-J:

“This case is disturbing because of the abuse of public trust and the example this man has made in the community. If he wants to be a role model for somebody, he can explain to them what it’s like to be in the penitentiary for stealing from the public … stealing from the children in this community.”

It’s hard to figure why Sanford got involved in the scheme. He had been principal at Dixie since 2002 and a JCPS employee for 18 years.