"PORK CHOP" DIES BEFORE SENTENCING

(06/21/2005)

Charleston businessman Phillip "Pork Chop" Booth, 55, has died of an apparent heart attack. Booth was to be sentenced in August on federal charges, after pleading guilty to fraud and other charges linked to a contract he obtained with the State Department of Education, misusing funds for the replacement of equipment in flooded McDowell County schools. He was facing up to 15 years in prison. Booth used his influence with Assistant State Schools Superintendent G. A. McClung to get the contracts, essentially using bribes and over-delivering equipment that was not needed. He gave Booth cash and gifts for favors. Associates of Booth said he was "a businessman with a showmanship. You just couldn't help but like." McClung has been charged and found guilty of related crimes. McClung was once appointed superintendent of schools for McDowell County, after the state school board took over the schools, saying the system was not operating efficiently.

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