Up North Progressive

UPDATE: This article states Ingersoll’s new trial date is February 10, as reported in the Traverse City Record Eagle. At this time, no firm date is set for the Ingersoll Federal Trial.

The Traverse City Record Eagle last Friday reported that Steve Ingersoll’s trial has been delayed a third time. The new date is February 10, 2015. The for-profit charter school grifter’s lawyers demanded more time to prepare for information that would become public when the trial began.

The story about the new information, broke by Miss Fortune of course is the angry letter sent to Ingersoll in 2013 demanding he pay back the $3.5 million taken from Grand Traverse Academy in advance fee payments for “managing” the for-profit charter school. It was later that a deal was struck between the school’s board and Ingersoll where he would pay the school back by taking less in advance payment fees to gradually offset the amount owed. GTA’s school board has still not recovered all of the money Ingersoll owes them, and at this point accept that they likely never will get that money back.

This is our tax dollars Ingersoll stole, then tried to cover it up when he took out a loan from Chemical Bank to renovate a church in Bay City for his new for-profit charter school venture there. Bay City Academy so far has closed down one campus completely due to low enrollment, has achievement test scores far below Bay City public schools, and are plagued with issues with superintendents quitting or was it being fired suddenly and leaving the school mid term.

The federal prosecution objected to the delay because, “Ingersoll’s motion was based on the premise he received loans derived from Grand Traverse Academy, an entity that is not authorized to make such transactions.”

Well no, schools are not banks. Schools are institutions of education. Unfortunately for people like Steve Ingersoll, he saw Michigan taxpayer money roll in and forgot what the purpose of that money was supposed to be. Now, we get to wait until February before he begins the first day of what will hopefully be a well-earned prison sentence.

Stay tuned!