More Ohio Charter News

From The Plain Dealer:

The Rev. Mark C. Olds found religion in prison and, once out, ascended to the pulpit, where he preached redemption and forgiveness.

But the preacher is in trouble with the law again and faces another stint in the penitentiary. Federal authorities accused him and two others Friday of defrauding the state's Department of Education of $2.2 million in connection with a defunct charter school that Olds founded and ran.

An indictment charges Olds, 56, of Solon, with conspiracy, money laundering and mail fraud. Also indicted are Shirley S. Haynes, 57, of Cleveland, the school's treasurer; and Timothy Daniels, 47, of Arizona, chairman of the school's board.

The charter school -- the Cleveland Academy of Math, Science and Technol ogy -- was one of several proj ects that gar nered media attention for Olds in the past decade. The native of North Carolina spent most of the 1980s in federal prison for bank robbery before arriving in Northeast Ohio to promote a message of forgiveness, especially for ex- convicts. . . .