Prosecutors won’t pursue charges in Broward schools’ caps-and-gowns case

A former supplier of caps and gowns for Broward County’s graduating seniors will not face criminal charges related to allegations that he overcharged students and parents while giving perks to school officials, the prosecutor’s office says.

The Broward State Attorney’s Office concluded that the district “ineffectively managed” contracts involving Herff Jones and its former Broward representative, Chuck Puleri, but determined it didn’t warrant pursuing a case.

“The ineffectiveness led to a breach of contract but did not rise to the level of criminal activity,” according to an Aug. 18 close-out memo, recently obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel through a public records request.

Puleri, reached by the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Friday, declined to comment. He hasn’t spoken publicly about the issues identified in the audit. Officials from the Herff Jones’ corporate office have argued that some issues identified by the district were errors, and others involved a contract signed solely by Puleri, not their office.

The school district turned the case over to the State Attorney’s Office late last year after an outside audit found that Herff Jones and Puleri overbilled students and parents at least $331,000.

Auditors with the Alabama-based Carr, Riggs & Ingram say Puleri also failed to supply invoices and shredded four years of invoices that were required to be maintained, making it impossible to know the full extent of overcharging.

The audit followed a series of Sun Sentinel investigations that found the district botched the vendor-selection process, improperly disqualifying Herff Jones’ competitor Jostens in both 2016 and 2021.

The Sun Sentinel’s investigations also revealed that most parents were paying more than double the $44 cap-and-gown price Herff Jones had bid because its online store only sold caps and gowns bundled with other items. The company was also charging a late fee it had agreed to drop.

Puleri had a close relationship with many school administrators who attended social functions sponsored by Puleri, including a June 2021 party at the Funky Buddha brewery in Oakland Park, while waiting to see if they’d be awarded an exclusive three-year contract.

“After the Sun Sentinel raised questions about the procedure, the District Purchasing Department decided to reject all proposals, to revise the contract language, and to re-advertise,” the State Attorney’s report said.

All Board members at the time agreed except Donna Korn, who said the move was unfair to vendors. The Sun Sentinel later found that Korn and then-administrator Shawn Cerra had spent separate weekends at Puleri’s beach house. The state Ethics Commission investigated but cleared them, determining the value of the trips fell below the threshold required for mandatory reporting and there was no evidence the trips influenced any decisions.

The district overhauled its selection process in 2022, allowing Herff Jones and Jostens to compete at each high school. Prices dropped from $44 to $29. Jostens became the sole vendor earlier this year, after the district decided to cut ties with Herff Jones and Puleri for both caps and gowns and class rings.

Since the audit, the school district “has made efforts to improve its process and oversight of the caps and gowns agreement,” the State Attorney’s Office memo said.

“This has included changing the process of how the caps and gown vendors are chosen each year,” the report said. “This has led in part to minimal student/parent overbillings” for the current contract.

Herff Jones still serves some private and charter schools in Broward but no longer uses Puleri.

Puleri’s company, Chuck Puleri & Associates, is still listed as active in state corporation records, although the store and office on State Road 84 in Davie closed earlier this year.