TIMELINE: Macon businessman Isaac Culver's federal fraud trial from start to finish

Former Bibb school superintendent Romain Dallemand and a former mayor and congressman are potential witnesses in a Macon businessman's federal fraud trial.

Jury selection is underway Monday in the trial of Isaac Culver, accused of defrauding the Bibb school district of more than $3 million.

As potential jurors were questioned, federal judge Marc Treadwell read off a list of potential witnesses.

They included Dallemand, Bibb's superintendent from 2011 to 2013, and an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.

Also named was Jim Marshall, Macon's mayor from 1995 to 1999, and then a five-term congressman.

Among others, Treadwell named Macon businessman Ben Hinson; former Bibb County chairman Sam Hart, who's now on the water authority, and current state Rep. James Beverly.

Treadwell did not explain how any of those people were connected to the fraud case.

One woman stated that she believed that if Culver was indicted, he must be guilty.

12 jurors and three alternates were chosen by Monday evening.

Nine men and six women will serve on the jury for the case.

The trial will reconvene Tuesday at 8 a.m.

Lawyers in the case picked a jury of nine men and six women on Tuesday to try the case.

Defense lawyers say former Bibb school Superintendent Romain Dallemand's "demanding" and "authoritarian" style was one of the factors that helped turn a school computer project into a disaster.

A federal jury heard opening arguments in the fraud trial of Isaac Culver on Tuesday.

The Macon businessman is accused of defrauding the Bibb school district of more than $3.7 million.

Prosecutors say Culver and his partner Dave Carty sold the district incomplete systems that didn't work.

But in his opening statement, Culver's lawyer, John Garland, blamed Dallemand.

He said Culver and Carty got the school contract in September 2012, and Dallemand wanted a new computer system by the end of the year.

The school district kept adding new tasks to the project and gave them an unrealistic deadline, said Garland.

But prosecutors call the case a simple fraud and coverup.

A federal indictment last year claimed that Dallemand, conspired with the two men to defraud the district.

Dallemand hired their company as program manager for a major technology upgrade for the school system in 2012.

Through wire transfers and false paperwork, the indictment says, Culver and Carty hid from the district how much they were profiting from the sale.

The prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. District Attorney Beth Howard, said Culver's company, Progressive Consulting Technologies, Inc. profited around $2.1 million dollars from the job.

When school officials started to install those computers, according to Bibb school officials, they realized that the computers wouldn't work because their company, PCTI, hadn't provided key components that were needed, like keyboards and monitors.

The equipment is still sitting, unused, in a Bibb school warehouse.

Lawyers in the case picked a jury of nine men and six women on Tuesday to try Culver's case. Carty will be tried separately.

Both men face more than a dozen charges -- conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and money laundering.

They face up to 20 years in prison and possible fines.

Dallemand is expected to testify in the case sometime this week.

Six witnesses were also called to testify Tuesday.

Among them was FBI Special Agent James Langdon, who investigated the case. He confirmed key bank statements, wires, invoices and emails used as evidence in the case.

The prosecution said Bibb County Schools wired around $3.7 million to CompTech under the assumption they were purchasing 15,000 NComputing devices from them.

The indictment says CompTech did not believe it would be providing any goods or services to the school district.

Prosecution then said CompTech wired Culver's company, Progressive Consulting Technologies, Inc., $2.1 million.

PCTI used $1.7 million to purchase the devices themselves, according to prosecution.

Allen Stephen, CEO of CompTech, was the last witness called before the trial recessed.

Stephen's testimony will resume 8 a.m. Wednesday.

The man who supposedly helped provide thousands of computers for Bibb County schools in 2012 said he thought he was taking part in an "honest" and "trustworthy" deal.

But instead, Allen Stephen testified Wednesday in the federal fraud trial of one of the men behind the deal.

Proceedings continued Wednesday in the trial of Isaac Culver, former Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce Chair and CEO of Progressive Consulting Technologies Inc.

RELATED: Two men charged with defrauding Bibb schools on computer sales

Stephen, CEO of CompTech, continued his testimony from Tuesday, sitting on the stand for almost four hours while the prosecution and defense asked questions.

Prior to the Bibb County School District project, PCTI and CompTech had worked together on a contract with Robins Air Force Base.

Stephen said PCTI approached them in December 2012 about their connection with the General Services Administration.

The GSA is a government entity where you can buy products and services from approved vendors at a fair price. CompTech was and still is an approved vendor with the GSA, since 2008.

PCTI sought to use CompTech's status with the GSA to purchase NComputing devices for the school district. This was shown through various emails, invoices and business records.

However, Stephen explained CompTech had little understanding of how the GSA worked at the time, and it would be their first sale with the process.

Stephen said CompTech was under the impression all they had to do was provide their GSA contract number.

He said CompTech was not asked to procure any equipment or provide any services or installation in the deal. Stephen said not even a specific profit was discussed for CompTech.

Bibb County received an invoice and wired $3.7 million to CompTech in December 2012 as shown through bank statements, under the impression CompTech was providing the equipment.

Cheryl Canty-Aaron, an employee of the school district testified and confirmed this. At the time she approved invoices and checked to see if there was enough money in the budget for various purchases.

After CompTech received the $3.7 million from the school district, Culver then asked Stephen through email to wire $2.1 million to PCTI, as well as send a check for $1.5 million.

CompTech and Stephen complied, as shown through bank statements.

PCTI later used that money to buy the NComputing devices themselves for $1.7 million.

Stephen said he thought he was participating in an "honest" and "trustworthy" transaction, but now he sees the process was misleading. The indictment says Culver and Carty were using CompTech as a pass through for wire and mail transfers of money.

Because Stephen thought the sale was a GSA sale, he then paid the GSA around $16,000 dollars to cover the fees.

It was later found out it was not a GSA sale, as some crucial steps in the process were overlooked.

CompTech employee Melissa Shaw testified and confirmed CompTech could not have sold NComputing devices at the time, because it was not on their contract.

Since then, Shaw said she has gained experience making GSA sales. Shaw said, "just because someone says its a GSA sale, doesn't mean it is."

Stephen said he never had any contact with anyone at the school district and did not know where to get NComputing devices.

He said he felt "in the dark," as Culver didn't provide much information to him about the project.

Stephen said CompTech then started to assemble their legal team in 2013.

After paying the GSA fee, CompTech was left with less than $65,000 from the deal.

CompTech and PCTI still work together on a contract with Macon's Office of Personnel Management, though Stephen hasn't had any personal contact with Culver for over three years.

The trial will resume Thursday at 8 a.m.

Former Macon-Bibb Superintendent Romain Dallemand is scheduled to testify in the case.

After five years, he's back in Macon and testifying as a convicted felon.

Romain Dallemand left town five years ago after resigning as Bibb County's school superintendent.

On Thursday, he's back and on the witness stand as a convicted felon.

Federal prosecutors claim that the two men conspired to cheat the Bibb County School District of millions on a deal for new computers.

Last year, Dallemand pleaded guilty to federal income tax fraud. He admitted taking bribes while school superintendent in an unrelated case.

Dallemand testified about how he came to hire Culver's Progressive Consulting Technologies, Inc. for $3.7 million to revamp Bibb County schools' computer system.

He said that when he became superintendent in 2011, the technology was "chaotic," and running on Windows 95.

He said he met with Culver regularly once he hired PCTI as project manager for the change.

Dallemand said he thought the technology that Culver presented to him -- devices called NComputing -- were "a great idea."

He said he believed Bibb was buying those devices from a company called CompTech.

But prosecutors say Culver and his business partner set up a paper deal so they could profit themselves.

Now, defense lawyers are questioning Dallemand.

Ghosts can speak from beyond the grave, or at least through depositions in a federal courtroom.

A deposition from the late Tom Tourand, former director of technology for Bibb County Schools, was used as evidence in the federal trial of former chair of the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce Chair Isaac Culver Thursday.

Tourand passed away in 2017 from a terminal disease.

Culver, who is also the CEO of Progressive Consulting Technologies, Inc., is charged with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and money laundering.

He's accused of defrauding the Bibb County School District out of $3.7 million while giving them unusable computer technology in return.

RELATED: Two men charged with defrauding Bibb schools on computer sales

Former Superintendent of Bibb County Schools, Romain Dallemand, testified earlier that day, saying he put his trust in Tourand, since this was his area of expertise.

Tourand's deposition told a different story.

In the deposition, Tourand said it was not his idea to purchase NComputing devices for the school district, he was not consulted about the deal and he was against it.

He said he had concerns about the rollout of 15,000 devices and that it would take "10 years to install."

Tourand voiced those concerns to Dallemand, but Dallemand said installation would be handled by Culver and PCTI. A service agreement as well as invoices confirmed that PCTI would be handling installation.

Tourand said he signed off on the appropriate papers because it was his job.

According to the deposition, both PCTI and Tourand were being directed by Dallemand.

Tourand said the reason Dallemand was in a hurry to purchase the NComputing devices in 2012 was to get a good discount on them before the end of the year.

HOW THE NCOMPUTING DEVICES WORK

The NComputing L300 was the device Bibb County schools was after. They bought 15,000 of them, 300 of which are in use. The rest sit in the school district's warehouse on Roff Avenue, according to video evidence.

Former Vice President of Sales for NComputing, Simon Pearce, testified Thursday and explained you can hook multiple monitors, keyboards and mice up to one L300.

The L300 then serves as the main central processing unit.

In order for an NComputing device to work, it requires the hardware mentioned above, as well as servers and licenses.

The service agreement between PCTI and the school district said the school district would provide hardware such as monitors, keyboards, and mice, but Pearce said the age of the hardware affects performance with the L300.

Pearce said NComputing devices were a popular technology in schools systems in the United States. He confirmed Georgia was one of the top states whose school systems used their technology.

Coffee County had the same devices installed in 2013 on a smaller scale, according to Chandler Newell, director of information systems for the Coffee County school district.

Coffee County received 2,418 devices, 1,500 of which are still in use today.

Pearce said the Bibb County sale was one of the largest sales for NComputing at the time. So large in fact, they asked PCTI to pay in cash, and they did.

It was also one of the lowest prices NComputing sold the L300s for--at $116 per device, according to payment records.

Coffee County paid around $152 dollars per L300, according to payment records.

Newell said they are impressed with the L300s, and are happy with their purchase.

In his deposition, Tourand said he thought the L300 was a great device.

DEFENSE LAWYERS DISPUTE CHARGES

Thursday the defense argued against some of the charges in the case.

Defense attorney John Garland said there was no evidence to support an intent to deceive the school district. They argued the school district "got what they bargained for" in the deal for a good price.

U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwell disagreed.

This is not the first time they've disputed something in the case.

On Tuesday, the defense asked for Tourand's deposition to be dismissed from evidence. Judge Treadwell turned down their request.

The defense previously cited Dallemand in their opening statements, saying he had an "authoritarian" style of leadership.

The trial will resume Friday at 8 a.m. with the defense presenting their case.

Isaac Culver, former Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce chair and defendant, testified in his own federal fraud trial Friday.

The defense attorneys of Culver started presenting their case Friday morning.

Culver is accused of defrauding the Bibb County School District out of $3.7 million while giving them unusable computer technology in return.

RELATED: Two men charged with defrauding Bibb schools on computer sales

Culver's family and friends were present in the courtroom.

FORMER PCTI EMPLOYEE SAYS PROJECT KEPT GROWING

The defense brought forth two former employees of Culver's company, Progressive Consulting Technologies, Inc.

Henry Scott was a program manager at PCTI and worked on the Bibb County School District project.

He said it was impossible to rollout the NComputing L300 devices without upgrading the entire network infrastructure of the school district first.

Scott said they had plans to install a new Network Operating Center to serve as a centralized hub where all servers could be managed.

Because of this, Scott said the original scope of the project expanded to include all the new upgrades.

The entire cost for the upgrades and installation--projected by Scott--was around $30.9 million.

Scott said Bibb County was aware of the cost and that they would have to provide hardware such as monitors, keyboards and mice for the L300s.

Scott would give updates on the project's progress to former Superintendent Romain Dallemand and Director of Technology Tom Tourand when needed (Tourand died in 2017).

PCTI was doing work in Bibb County schools well into 2013.

STATE OF THE DISTRICT'S TECHNOLOGY IN 2012

James Banks, a former consultant of PCTI at the time of the Bibb County project assessed the school's technology before the upgrades began.

In his testimony, Banks said everything was a mess. Pictures presented in evidence showed cables hanging in tangled webs, equipment not properly mounted to walls and servers sitting on plastic chairs.

Defense also presented pictures of the cabling work PCTI oversaw. They showed new cables organized and neatly installed.

TEACHERS IMPRESSED BY NCOMPUTING DEVICES

The defense called two former principals in the Bibb County School District as witnesses as well.

They both recalled seeing a demonstration of the NComputing L300 devices and were impressed with them.

Both schools received a pilot rollout of the devices, and one even asked how she could get more for her school at the time.

CULVER'S FRIENDS TAKE THE STAND

The last four witnesses, who were also Culver's friends, were brought in to testify about who Culver was as a person.

Among them was former Macon mayor and Congressman Jim Marshall.

Marshall said he met Culver back in the late '90s when he was running for Congress and needed help with the computers in his office.

From there, they developed a friendship that lasted through the years.

Marshall said Culver's character is very good and that others in the community agree.

The defense asked Marshall if Culver was law-abiding. Marshall said yes, he was.

The other three witnesses agreed Culver's character was good and he was law abiding.

"I THOUGHT I COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE"

Culver, 48, took to the witness stand near the end of the day.

Culver explained how PCTI became technical project manager for the Bibb County schools project.

While PCTI had extensive experience working on government contracts, particularly with Warner Robins Air Logistics, he chose to write a fake reference letter in order to get the job.

Culver said they were on a time crunch. He regrets the decision now and said, "it was a very bad way of doing things."

Culver said working for Dallemand and the school district was difficult.

While PCTI proposed several solutions to the school district's failing technology system, Dallemand made up his mind about the L300s.

And once Dallemand made up his mind, Culver said there was no changing it.

Culver went on to say PCTI was given too short of a time frame for such a massive installation project.

He also explained while the cost of the NComputing L300s was $1.7 million, they billed the school district $3.7 million because $2 million was a reasonable price for the amount of physical labor the installation required.

Culver explained it was not their original plan to use the General Services Administration for the NComputing purchase, but it was asked of them by Tourand after they received quotes for the devices.

Culver thought the best course of action was to use a third party company who had a GSA affiliation as a pass through for the purchase.

That company was CompTech.

Culver said he had little knowledge of how GSA sales worked and there was no attempt to deceive CompTech's CEO, Allen Stephen.

Culver explained to Dallemand that they were using CompTech as a pass through, and thought Dallemand understood what he meant.

The defense attorney asked Culver why he even took the job in the first place.

Culver said that Bibb County was "his school district" and he wanted "to make a change."

The trial will resume Monday at 8 a.m. with Culver continuing his testimony.

Jury deliberation began Monday afternoon for the federal fraud case of Isaac Culver, CEO of Progressive Consulting Technologies, Inc. and former Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce Chair.

Culver is accused of defrauding the Bibb County School District out of $3.7 million dollars while giving them unusable technology in return.

The indictment says Culver did this by using a third party company, CompTech, as a pass through for the purchase, and further disguised the sale as being done through the General Services Administration.

RELATED: Two men charged with defrauding Bibb schools on computer sales

Culver continued his testimony Monday morning.

CULVER SAYS THE SCHOOL DISTRICT STOPPED HIM

In an effort to justify the $3.7 million price point the school district paid, Culver drew up his own invoice outlining all potential costs associated with the NComputing L300s and presented it into evidence.

Culver said even with him being “conservative” with the prices of installation, the total still came out to more than $3.7 million.

Culver also said people at the school district stopped him from completing the project, saying they were “changing the rules in the middle of the game.”

PROSECUTION SAYS CULVER SPOTTED AN OPPORTUNITY

In closing arguments, the prosecution said Culver spotted an “institutional vulnerability” within the school district. They said he lied to the people he worked alongside.

Prosecution went on to point out Culver and PCTI had more than 20 years of experience and had worked with government contracts before. They pointed out PCTI has a General Services Administration contract themselves.

Although PCTI can only sell services with their contract, prosecution said their experience would be enough to know how GSA sales worked, although Culver said he believed the faulty GSA sale was legitimate.

The prosecution went on to say PCTI used a fraudulent invoice to further deceive the school district as to where their funds were really going.

Evidence shows the invoice for the L300 devices was originally made by PCTI, then emailed to CompTech to place their logo on it. CompTech then sent the invoice to the school district.

Because of this, employees at the the school district, including former Superintendent Romain Dallemand, said they believed CompTech was providing the devices, support and installation, when in reality it was PCTI.

The school district said they did not want their technical project manager, PCTI, to be their vendor for the devices because it was a conflict of interest. Culver agreed in his testimony it would be a conflict if PCTI handled both jobs, even though business records showed PCTI procuring the devices.

PARROTING OF INFORMATION

Because the school district was under the impression CompTech was the vendor, emails showed the school district reaching out to CompTech with questions about installation.

Because CompTech was not actually providing any services or products, CEO Allen Stephen contacted Culver as to what he should say.

Through emails, Culver proceeded to send information to Stephen, which he parroted back to the school district.

PCTI BILLED THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AN ADDITIONAL $1.1 MILLION

Culver said in his testimony the $3.7 million price point for the devices included installation and support services.

However, bank and business records show PCTI billing the school district an additional $1.1 million for their services as technical project manager.

It is not confirmed if the school district paid the entire $1.1 million.

DEFENSE SAYS BIBB COUNTY GOT WHAT THEY PAID FOR

The defense believe Bibb County received what they paid for—15,000 NComputing L300 devices.

They argued in their closing arguments PCTI was prepared to install the devices, but the school district never provided the necessary equipment to do so.

They likened the situation to a construction project, where Bibb County bought the lumber for the house, but did not want to buy the sheetrock or any other materials. Then they turned around and got mad at the builders.

The defense went on to say there is no crime in making a profit, and there was no intent to deceive the school district.

Jury deliberation will resume Tuesday at 9 a.m. If a unanimous decision isn't reached, the court will decide on a schedule on how to move forward.

UPDATE: 4 p.m.

The Bibb County School District's attorney, Tom Joyce with Jones Cork provided a statement about the case on behalf of the school district.

"The Bibb County School District is pleased to learn that justice was served when the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all counts charged in the indictment in the federal criminal trial against Isaac J. Culver, III and Progressive Consulting Technologies, Inc. The Bibb County School District takes seriously its obligation to protect the funds of Bibb County taxpayers meant for the benefit of the students of Bibb County."

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After 7 days of trial proceedings, jury deliberation finished Tuesday morning in the federal fraud case of Isaac Culver and his tech company, Progressive Consulting Technologies.

The jury found Culver guilty of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and conspiracy to launder.

Culver and his company defrauded the Bibb County School District out of $3.7 million dollars while giving them unusable technology in return.

Culver did this by using a third party company, CompTech, as a pass through for the purchase. He further disguised the sale as being done through the General Services Administration.

RELATED: Two men charged with defrauding Bibb schools on computer sales

Culver’s crimes date back to 2012, when the school district hired him and PCTI as the technical project manager to upgrade their technology system.

Because of Culver’s actions, the school district ended up with nearly 15,000 unusable devices that are still sitting in a warehouse.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service.

While the prosecution described the crime as a simple “fraud and cover-up,” defense attorneys John and Edward Garland argued Culver gave the school district exactly what they paid for.

The court is now awaiting sentencing from Judge Marc Treadwell.

Each of the charges against Culver and PCTI carry a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison, according to a press release from the United States Attorney's Office.

Conspiracy to launder carries a maximum fine of $500,00 dollars or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction--whichever is greater.

Each of the other charges carry a maximum possible fine of $250,000 dollars.

"The jury reached the correct verdict today," said Deputy Criminal Chief Danial Bennett with the U.S. Attorney's Office. "We are now shifting our focus to the co-defendant in the case, so we cannot comment further at this time. We are satisfied justice has been rendered to Culver and Progressive Consulting Technologies."

13WMAZ asked the defense for comment, but they declined.

Culver is released with a bond and will not be taken into custody on Tuesday.

Culver's co-defendant and business partner, Dave Carty, is awaiting trial.

Macon businessman Isaac Culver, 48, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison Thursday.

After a seven-day trial in July, Culver was found guilty of defrauding the Bibb County School District out of $3.7 million dollars, while giving them unusable technology in return.

He did this by using a third party company, CompTech, as a pass-through for the technology purchase. He further disguised the sale as being done through the General Services Administration.

Culver is convicted of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of unlawful activity.

In addition, Culver will have to serve three years supervised released, with his company, PCTI, sentenced to five years probation and a $500,000 fine.

Culver's co-defendant and business partner, Dave Carty, is awaiting trial.