NEW YORK CITY — A former New York City schools official whose corruption led to students snacking on metal-filled chicken tenders in their lunches was convicted on extortion and bribery charges, prosecutors said.
Jurors found Eric Goldstein, 55, and three food company executives guilty Wednesday on all counts after a four-week trial in a Brooklyn federal court.
Goldstein, who oversaw city schools’ Office of Food and Nutrition Services, used his position to snag a contract for a company in which he had a stake, prosecutors said.
Find out what's happening in New York Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
He also accepted bribes from the executives with SOMMA Food Group, which had supplied tainted chicken tenders for school lunches, authorities said.
“The defendants’ criminal conduct is a textbook example of choosing greed over the needs of our schools and the well-being of our children,” said United States Attorney Breon Peace, in a statement.
Find out what's happening in New York Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“Our children depended on nutritious meals served in schools and instead, got substandard food products containing pieces of plastic, metal, and bones, which is unacceptable.”
The verdict caps a bizarre spate of disgusting school lunchtime misadventures starting in 2016. Students complained about finding bits of bone, blue plastic and, finally, bits of metal in chicken tenders.
Those tenders were supplied by SOMMA Foods, whose executives Blaine Iler, 35, Michael Turley and Brian Twomey, 50, had a secret business relationship with Goldstein, prosecutors said.
The trio partnered with Goldstein to found a company to buy grass-fed beef products that SOMMA would in turn sell in New York City’s school, according to court documents.
“I’m going to buy a lot of f—ing chicken from you guys, let’s do the beef,” Goldstein told one of the executives, court documents state.
Goldstein used his position to steer schools toward buying SOMMA’s products, while its executives concealed her ownership interest in the other food company.
After a Department of Education employee choked on a bone left in a SOMMA chicken tender, the city’s schools briefly stopped serving the company’s foods in 2016, documents state. But Goldstein signed off on allowing SOMMA’s chicken back into schools after he received a nearly $67,000 bribe from the three executives, prosecutors said.
SOMMA’s food continued to be served until 2017, when a student found metal in a chicken tender.
Goldstein and the three executives face up to 20 years in prison when sentenced.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
Click Here: Gws Giants Guernsey