Four people, including two former public school employees, have been sentenced to prison for their role in a bribery scheme involving the Wayne County Public School System and a Johnston county-based roofing company.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating the relationship between All American Roofing and Construction and the Wayne County Public School System in 2009 after receiving a tip that the open bidding process was being illegally manipulated.

The Selma-based roofing company – owned by David Lee Tedder Sr. and operated with his then-wife, Pamela Carol Turner – placed numerous bids for contracts with Wayne County schools and offered “kickbacks” to schools employees Danny Lee Langley, 54, and Earl Wayne Rhodes, 58, to rig bids so that the contracts were awarded to his business, according to documents released Thursday by the Department of Justice.

Langley worked as the school district’s former maintenance director and Rhodes worked as his assistant.

All four people have been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty in court.

Turner, 46, of Selma, was sentenced to 20 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. David Lee Tedder Sr., 51, of Kenly, was sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Earl Wayne Rhodes, of Pikeville, was sentenced to 36 months, followed by three years supervised release. Danny Lee Langley, of Snow Hill, was sentenced to 84 months in prison followed by three years supervised release.

Tedder, Rhodes, and Langley were also ordered to pay restitution to Wayne County Public Schools in the amount of $124,074.38.

“This was a case about public school officials who accepted hard cash in exchange for awarding more than $2 million in school roofing contracts over seven years,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas Walker. “This corruption cheated not only the school system and the children who rely upon it, but every small business owner who played by the rules and put in honest bids.

“Those who abuse our system of open and honest competition will be held to account for their actions, and this case is a reminder of how serious the consequences can be,” he said.