Peachtree City resident R. Clay Harris was found guilty in federal court Thursday on charges of bribery and conspiring to bribe a former Atlanta Public School (APS) official.

Harris was the CEO and majority owner of Multimedia Communications Services Corporation (MCSC), while co-conspirator Arthur Scott was the Director of APS’s Operational Technology/Telecommunications Division, with responsibility for APS’s technology infrastructure and for managing and overseeing APS’s “E-rate” program, according to U.S. attorney Davis Nahmias.

The E-rate program was created by Congress in 1996 to provide funding to connect needy schools to the Internet and was authorized to provide billions of dollars of funding to such schools.

In 1998, Arthur Scott and other APS Information Services employees recommended that MCSC (and related companies) be awarded contracts to do E-rate work for APS.

Nahmias said evidence at the trial showed that starting in late 2000 through late 2002, Harris paid the Scott-owned M&S Consulting more than $230,000 for favorable treatment in receiving E-rate and other APS business.

Harris subsequently received more than $11 million in E-rate funds for work at APS.

Arthur Scott pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bribery charges in May 2007, and testified at trial against Harris.

Harris could face up to 45 years in prison. Sentencing is set for Oct. 22.