John Ross and his wife orchestrated a fraudulent book scheme that swindled the Davis School District out of more than $4 million.

For that crime he was sentenced Wednesday to pay a fine of $500.

He will serve no jail time, but he will be required to forfeit nearly $800,000 from bank accounts owned by him and his wife, Susan Ross. The pair will also be required to turn over two vehicles and homes in Layton, South Weber and Mountain Green.

The Rosses were both employees of the Davis School District. He was a federal grant specialist and she was a director of federal programs, specifically the Title 1 education program, which is meant to aid students who are minorities, disadvantaged or disabled. Prosecutors say the couple were able to use their positions to perpetrate the theft.

The scheme, which was operated from 2000 to 2005, involved producing bogus books, inflating the prices and selling them to the district. The Rosses were hit with a 47-count federal indictment, which included mail fraud and money laundering. The indictment filed in 2006 stated that the couple set up a front company to photocopy books that would normally retail for $15 to $25 and hike up the prices to as much as $80 before selling them to the school district.

Both John Ross and Susan Ross entered guilty pleas before U.S. District Judge Waddoups last month after brokering plea agreements. John Ross pleaded guilty to one count of placing fraudulent copyrights on stolen texts, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum fine of $2,500.

Susan Ross pleaded guilty to money laundering, a felony that could carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine of $250,000, in addition to $350,115 in restitution to the school district. She will be sentenced Dec. 14.

John Ross was allowed to plead to a more lenient misdemeanor charge because "he was not employed in the same capacity" as his wife and has serious health concerns, prosecutor Barbara Bearnson said last month. John Ross said he suffered a stroke in 2002 and has had subsequent seizures since then.

John Ross told U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups Wednesday that while he "deeply regrets" his "mistake," he was not "purposely deceitful." He then explained the various contributions he believes he made to education in the state, including working with Senate education committees to secure more federal funding and encouraging the Davis School District to create a position for a federal grant-writing specialist. Ross said in this capacity, he was able to bring $17 million in federal funds to the state.

"I always worked diligently to see that students had the tools they needed to prove themselves," John Ross said.

He also took the opportunity to criticize both the school district for not keeping complete and thorough documents, and the local media for its coverage of his case.

"I am deeply offended by the trash that has been printed by Salt Lake and Ogden daily papers and my voice has not yet been heard," John Ross said.

Susan Ross wiped her eyes as her husband concluded his statements by thanking her for her "undivisioned love and total support" and calling her his "source of strength."

e-mail: emorgan@desnews.com