Public Officials Fleece Children

Two people were found guilty of fraud this week in a Massachusetts city’s ongoing public corruption probe that has so far led to more than a dozen federal convictions.

The widespread corruption ring involves public officials and their relatives and friends who have fleeced the Springfield school system out of thousands of dollars in the last few years.

This week’s convictions involve two people who got taxpayer-funded no-show jobs from a school official who has already served a five-month prison sentence for fraud. The corrupt official (Alfonso Carrano) stole vending machine proceeds intended to benefit the city’s school lunch program and he put his brother and a female friend on the payroll for jobs they