Brian Keith Stowers

WARSAW — Last fall, Warsaw Community Schools Director of Maintenance, Gregory Schroeder, was accused of accepting kickbacks from a maintenance supplier.

Now, a second individual has been named in the case, Brian Keith Stowers, who allegedly paid Schroeder thousands of dollars in exchange for purchasing supplies through his company, Continental Maintenance Services, Inc.

According to police reports, it all began last September, when WCS Chief Financial Officer, Keving Scott, and Human Resoures Director, Amy Sively, confronted Schroeder about discrepancies in his accounts. Schroeder admitted he had been accepting kickbacks amounting to approximately $30,000.

On Oct. 29, 2014, Schroeder and his attorney met with Warsaw police. Schroeder then named Stowers and said he had been taking kickbacks since around 2005 or 2006, in the form of personal checks from Stowers, Continental Maintenance Inc. and gift certificates from Harley Buck.

Schroeder told police Stowers had been paying him the kickbacks in exchange for doing business with Continental Maintenance and that the more Schroeder ordered, the more money he received. Police reports note that, in all, Schroeder ordered $828,151.34 worth of supplies and that Stower, in return, paid him $115,620.87 in 90 payments.

Schroeder gave an example of a large amount of carpet cleaner he had ordered in 2010, then returned, pocketing the refund of $11,265.34 in the form of a cashier’s check, reportedly to pay off his personal motorcycle.

Police reports also state that, in a recorded phone call, Schroeder and Stowers discussed the situation. Stowers told Schroeder the cashier’s check had been a loan, then commented that Schroeder had paid him back by using him as a vendor and that, if he was going to tell police he took the money, to tell them Stowers had loaned it.

The police report also names Christopher Scholtz, who was employed at Continental Maintenance Services in 2011 and who noted that Stowers would invoice WCS, then send no product or less product than stated in the invoices and WCS would pay the full amount.