The man who supposedly helped provide thousands of computers for Bibb County schools in 2012 said he thought he was taking part in an "honest" and "trustworthy" deal.
But instead, Allen Stephen testified Wednesday in the federal fraud trial of one of the men behind the deal.
Proceedings continued Wednesday in the trial of Isaac Culver, former Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce Chair and CEO of Progressive Consulting Technologies Inc.
Stephen, CEO of CompTech, continued his testimony from Tuesday, sitting on the stand for almost four hours while the prosecution and defense asked questions.
Prior to the Bibb County School District project, PCTI and CompTech had worked together on a contract with Robins Air Force Base.
Stephen said PCTI approached them in December 2012 about their connection with the General Services Administration.
The GSA is a government entity where you can buy products and services from approved vendors at a fair price. CompTech was and still is an approved vendor with the GSA, since 2008.
PCTI sought to use CompTech's status with the GSA to purchase NComputing devices for the school district. This was shown through various emails, invoices and business records.
However, Stephen explained CompTech had little understanding of how the GSA worked at the time, and it would be their first sale with the process.
Stephen said CompTech was under the impression all they had to do was provide their GSA contract number.
He said CompTech was not asked to procure any equipment or provide any services or installation in the deal. Stephen said not even a specific profit was discussed for CompTech.
Bibb County received an invoice and wired $3.7 million to CompTech in December 2012 as shown through bank statements, under the impression CompTech was providing the equipment.
Cheryl Canty-Aaron, an employee of the school district testified and confirmed this. At the time she approved invoices and checked to see if there was enough money in the budget for various purchases.
After CompTech received the $3.7 million from the school district, Culver then asked Stephen through email to wire $2.1 million to PCTI, as well as send a check for $1.5 million.
CompTech and Stephen complied, as shown through bank statements.
PCTI later used that money to buy the NComputing devices themselves for $1.7 million.
Stephen said he thought he was participating in an "honest" and "trustworthy" transaction, but now he sees the process was misleading. The indictment says Culver and Carty were using CompTech as a pass through for wire and mail transfers of money.
Because Stephen thought the sale was a GSA sale, he then paid the GSA around $16,000 dollars to cover the fees.
It was later found out it was not a GSA sale, as some crucial steps in the process were overlooked.
CompTech employee Melissa Shaw testified and confirmed CompTech could not have sold NComputing devices at the time, because it was not on their contract.
Since then, Shaw said she has gained experience making GSA sales. Shaw said, "just because someone says its a GSA sale, doesn't mean it is."
Stephen said he never had any contact with anyone at the school district and did not know where to get NComputing devices.
FAST FACTS: A breakdown of Isaac Culver's federal fraud trial
He said he felt "in the dark," as Culver didn't provide much information to him about the project.
Stephen said CompTech then started to assemble their legal team in 2013.
After paying the GSA fee, CompTech was left with less than $65,000 from the deal.
CompTech and PCTI still work together on a contract with Macon's Office of Personnel Management, though Stephen hasn't had any personal contact with Culver for over three years.
The trial will resume Thursday at 8 a.m.
Former Macon-Bibb Superintendent Romain Dallemand is scheduled to testify in the case.
