This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
by Holly Otterbein for NewsWorks
The former CEO of a Philadelphia charter school was sentenced to three years in prison Monday for stealing funds from the school.
Masai Skief, 32, pleaded guilty last year to embezzling $88,000 from the Harambee Institute of Science Technology Charter School and a related nonprofit, the Harambee Institute. After signing the plea agreement, prosecutors said, Skief kept stealing money from the Harambee Institute. In all, he took an extra $12,000, they said.
Prosecutors said that led them to ask for a longer sentence than the 21 to 27 months that they originally sought.
"He just continued to help himself to money for men’s clothing, for his girlfriend. He got a hotel room for her. He had his car repaired," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Lappen. "He basically just treated the institute’s money as his personal piggy bank."