A former Chicago Public Schools principal who went on to lead an Indianapolis charter network has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for his role in a fake-invoice scheme that prosecutors say cost school systems in two states more than $1 million. Brian Metcalf, 52, was sentenced by a federal judge in August 2026, months after two co-defendants received their own prison terms in the same case.
U.S. District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins handed down Metcalf's sentence in August, following July 2026 sentencings for co-defendants Kimberly Maddox, who received two years, and James Darnell Campbell, who got a year and a day, according to the Department of Justice. As WGN-TV reported, prosecutors say the fraud cost Chicago nearly $700,000 and Indianapolis nearly $400,000, adding up to more than $1 million total. Metcalf, Maddox and Campbell must collectively repay $1,099,200 in restitution, per the same station's reporting.
A Career That Moved From Chicago Classrooms to an Indianapolis Boardroom
Before his fraud conviction, Metcalf built a lengthy résumé inside Chicago Public Schools, serving as principal of both Gage Park High School and Field Elementary before his promotion in July 2017 to Chief of Schools for Network 6, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He left the district in 2018 and later became superintendent of schools in Indianapolis, according to WGN-TV, eventually taking the top job at Tindley Accelerated Schools, a charter network that operates three K-12 campuses serving roughly 1,000 students in the city, as Chalkbeat Indiana reported.
Metcalf served as Tindley's CEO from July 2019 to December 2022, and the charter network was the primary Indiana victim of his scheme, per the same outlet's account. Chalkbeat Indiana also reported that the network adopted new internal fiscal safeguards after the fraud came to light. Metcalf agreed to plead guilty to federal wire fraud charges, a plea the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced in a news release, WGN-TV noted.
Fake Invoices, CashApp Payments and a Casino Family Reunion
Court records describe a scheme built on invoices for work that was never done. Both Maddox and Metcalf were convicted of making fake invoices for services that were never performed, according to WGN-TV, while Campbell was convicted on the same basis. Kickbacks from Maddox to Metcalf moved through CashApp and direct payments that covered Metcalf's personal expenses, including credit card bills, car loans, roof repairs and a family reunion at a casino, according to Chalkbeat Indiana's earlier reporting.
Campbell entered the conspiracy later, after approaching Metcalf while Metcalf was leading the Indianapolis school system and asking to join the ongoing scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. That arrangement generated nearly $400,000 in additional fake consulting invoices, with Campbell splitting the proceeds of his false billing directly with Metcalf, the Department of Justice said. Campbell, 59, of Frankfort, and Maddox, 55, of Matteson, each pleaded guilty alongside Metcalf, who is from Baltimore, Maryland, WGN-TV reported.
CPS Watchdog Tallies Its Own Losses
The financial damage inside Chicago Public Schools was significant even before Metcalf's move to Indiana. The district's Office of the Inspector General reported in January 2026 that Metcalf's fake billing scheme with Maddox defrauded CPS of at least $88,500 prior to his 2018 departure from the district, according to Chalkbeat Chicago's review of the watchdog's fiscal year 2025 annual report.
Unraveling the scheme required more than one agency. The federal investigation was conducted jointly by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General, the AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Small Business Administration, according to the Department of Justice.
Part of a Broader Pattern of CPS Fraud Cases
Metcalf's sentencing lands amid a string of federal fraud cases touching Chicago's school system. Hoodline previously reported that former CPS Chief Operating Officer Crystal Cooper was charged with three wire fraud counts over an alleged $28,000 pandemic relief loan scheme. And Hoodline has also reported that CPS disciplined more than 700 employees across its system during a single school year, a number district officials noted represents a small fraction of its roughly 45,630 total staff members, with the district directing families and staff to inspector general portals to report suspected financial fraud.
It remains unclear how much of the $1,099,200 in ordered restitution victim institutions like Tindley Accelerated Schools will ultimately recover. The sentencings close out a prosecution that stretched across years and two states, but the fuller financial reckoning for the school systems involved is still unresolved.
