MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Four one-time Alabama educators have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in a scheme to fraudulently enroll students from private schools in online public schools.

Trey Holladay, a former superintendent with the Athens city school system, was sentenced to the maximum of five years and ordered to pay $2.9 million in restitution during a hearing Thursday, news outlets reported.

Retired teacher Gregory Earl Corkren was sentenced to nearly two years in prison and ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution, and former football coach David Tutt was sentenced to two years and ordered to pay about $275,000 in restitution and fines.

On Tuesday, former Limestone County Superintendent Tom Sisk was sentenced to 18 months and ordered to pay almost $30,000 in fines and restitution.

All four men pleaded guilty last year in what prosecutors described as a complicated plan to fraudulently enroll students, many from private schools in the Black Belt region of west Alabama, in public virtual schools in north Alabama to bolster state funding for the public systems.

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