Earl Joe Nelson of Biloxi, Mississippi, and Monekea Smith-Taylor of St. Louis, Missouri, appeared in federal court before District Judge Sharion Aycock in Aberdeen and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit embezzlement. Mario Willis of Southaven, Mississippi, had previously entered a guilty plea for the same charge in October 2025.
Court documents state that from July 2019 to May 2022, Nelson served as superintendent of Clarksdale Municipal School District and later became superintendent of Leake County School District in October 2022. Willis was the superintendent of Hollandale School District. Smith-Taylor worked as a schoolteacher in the St. Louis area.
Nelson and Willis used their roles as superintendents to create reciprocal consulting contracts and payments for services that were either overpriced or not provided at all. Between November 2021 and June 2023, under Willis’s direction, Hollandale School District paid about $94,400 to Ira Reed Consulting, Inc., and N17 Group, LLC for Nelson’s personal benefit.
From November 2021 to May 2022, Clarksdale Municipal School District paid approximately $25,400 to K&S Enterprises, LLC and ALM Brothers, LLC for Willis’s benefit at Nelson’s direction. From January 2023 to May 2023, Leake County School District paid about $23,500 to K&S Enterprises for Willis’s benefit under Nelson’s direction.
The invoices submitted were often identical except for name changes. Nelson would reuse invoices created by Willis with only names altered before submitting them back for payment.
In addition to his conspiracy with Nelson, Willis arranged payments from Hollandale School District to Erudition Consulting Company—owned by Smith-Taylor—for inflated or unprovided consulting services. After receiving payment from the district between June 2021 and May 2023 (totaling around $250,902), Smith-Taylor met with Nelson in person and gave him cash payments equal to half her received amount.
Nelson, Willis, and Smith-Taylor each face up to five years in prison. Sentencing will be determined by Judge Aycock after considering federal guidelines and statutory factors.
“The protection and education of children goes to the very heart of who we are as a people,” said U.S. Attorney Scott F. Leary. “Those that violate this sacred trust will face the consequences of their actions. Always remember those law enforcement officers who spend their careers protecting the public and especially the children of this great state.”
“Today’s action shows that these former school leaders not only knowingly and willfully abused their positions of trust for personal gain but did so at the expense of the educational development of children. That is unacceptable,” said Adam Shanedling, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General’s Eastern Regional Office. “Deservedly, they will both be held accountable for cheating Mississippi students and taxpayers.”
“Thank you to the US Attorney’s Office for helping us bring this case to a close,” said State Auditor Shad White. “My office will continue to work with prosecutors to deliver record results for taxpayers.”
The investigation is being conducted by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor along with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Clayton A. Dabbs is prosecuting the case.
