Arnold W. Webster

Arnold Webster pleaded guilty to illegally paying himself $20,000 in school district funds after becoming mayor. Serving as mayor from 1994 to 1997, he faced a potential sentence of 16 months in prison and $250,000 in fines. In August, he was sentenced to six months of house arrest and ordered to repay over $20,000 in salary from the school board.

Before his mayoral election in 1994, Arnold Webster was the Superintendent of Schools in Camden for nearly a decade. While some credited him with avoiding a state takeover of Camden's schools, this period is now seen as disastrous for Camden's children and the city as a whole. Throughout the 80's and 90's, the city's school board and school system were riddled with corruption and charges of nepotism, with at least one high-ranking school official convicted of crimes in office. The state finally stepped in to oversee Camden's school system in 2003.