Former Dallas County Schools (DCS) superintendent Rick Sorrells, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for taking bribes in 2019, has been released early and is now serving the rest of his sentence at home.

Sorrells pleaded guilty to accepting more than $3 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for entering into contracts worth $125 million with a company that provided cameras for DCS school buses.

According to court documents, Sorrells waived his rights to a federal grand jury indictment, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, and was sentenced to up to seven years in prison.

According to federal prosecutors, Sorrells received the bribes and kickbacks through several companies operated by Slater Swartwood Sr. and an unnamed law firm.

Prosecutors said Sorrells spent the bribe money on trips, credit card debt, cars, jewelry, an apartment in New Orleans, and other personal expenses.

On the day of his sentencing, Sorrells asked for the court’s forgiveness, saying he had made a mistake. Sorrells claimed he was a “yes man” who could not say no to Bob Leonard, who owns the camera company.

Sorrells said he was already too deep to get out of the scheme on his own and felt relieved when the FBI came to raid his home because he knew it was the beginning of the end.

“This defendant pocketed a whopping $3.5 million in bribes, simultaneously crippling the agency he was tapped to lead and undermining the public’s trust in city officials,” former U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox said following Sorrells’ sentencing. “The citizens of Dallas deserve better, and they should rest assured that we are committed to rooting out public corruption wherever we find it,”

As part of his plea agreement, Sorrells was ordered to forfeit all properties bought with the bribe money. Sorrells and two other defendants connected to the case were ordered to pay $125 million in restitution.

Federal prison officials have transferred Sorrells to home confinement after serving just 30 months out of his seven-year sentence in prison, according to reports.

Officials from the Federal Bureau of Prisons told NBC 5 News that Sorrels was transferred in March due to a COVID-19 policy that aims to reduce the number of inmates in federal prisons.

Delna Bryan, a former union leader who once represented workers, including school bus drivers at DCS, expressed his disappointment in the transfer.

“He had caused a lot of grief,” Bryan said.

Many workers in Bryan’s union lost their jobs after voters elected to close down DCS following Sorrells’ bribery scandal at the agency.

“Can he look himself in the mirror every day and say that justice is being done?” Bryan added. “I don’t think so.”

Mike Williams, a former employee at DCS, said he was disappointed that Sorrells would not spend the rest of his sentence behind bars.

Williams was among a group of former DCS employees who pleaded with the judge to give Sorrells the maximum prison time possible for his crime.

“We all worked so hard to make people proud of Dallas County Schools, and then we find out he’s a crook,” Williams told NBC 5 in 2019.

Williams recently expressed his disappointment that Sorrells has still not paid back the restitution money.

“I am appalled that restitution to the taxpayers of Dallas County has not been completely paid,” said Williams.

According to NBC 5, court records showed in 2020 that Sorrells had paid just $500 of his share in the $125 million in restitution he was ordered to pay along with the other two defendants.

In January, the FBI also credited about $50,000 to Sorrells after the agency sold a property it had seized during the investigation.

“I want it paid back, and every penny of it paid back for all the harm that he has done,” said Bryan.

It is unclear how much of the $125 million Sorrells will pay.