Michael David Barker, a former maintenance director for Boone County Schools in West Virginia, has been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison. The sentence also includes three years of supervised release and an order to pay $3,448,571.85 in restitution after Barker admitted to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
According to court records, between November 2019 and December 2023, Barker collaborated with Jesse Marks and his company Rush Enterprises to defraud the school system. Barker approved invoices for custodial supplies such as hand soap, trash can liners, face masks, face shields, and hand sanitizer that significantly overstated the actual quantities delivered. These fraudulent invoices led the Boone County Board of Education to send payments totaling more than $4.3 million to Rush Enterprises over four years.
Barker admitted that about 80 percent of these payments—approximately $3.4 million—were based on inflated invoices. He received cash from Marks in manila envelopes and used it for personal expenses including vehicles, equipment, and home improvements.
Jesse Marks was sentenced on November 13, 2025, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. His sentence includes five years of federal probation with one year and six months on home detention as well as an order to pay $3,448,571.85 in restitution.
The investigation into Michael David Barker’s actions also led his parents—Michael P. Barker and Lana Barker—to plead guilty earlier this year for structuring financial transactions designed to avoid federal currency reporting requirements. They made eleven cash deposits just below the $10,000 threshold between November 7 and November 28, 2023; these deposits totaled $97,215 and were used along with other funds to purchase property in Foster. Both were sentenced to one year of federal probation.
“United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Department of Education-Office of Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), the West Virginia State Police, and the West Virginia State Auditor’s Office (WVSAO) Public Integrity and Fraud Unit (PIFU), and the assistance provided by the West Virginia Department of Education.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gabriel Price before United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston.
More information is available through PACER by searching Case No. 2:24-cr-194.
