A Douglasville, Ga., man who used fraudulent emails to defraud the San Felipe-Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District of over $2 million has been sentenced to 52 months in prison.
Donald Ray Lockard, 67, stole funds from the school district while doing business as DL Investments from August 2019 to February 2020, a new release said. Lockard kept the funds for his personal use.
“According to court records, unknown co-conspirators sent fraudulent emails to the school district’s comptroller claiming to be representatives of the financial institution to which the school district made bi-annual bond payments,” the release said. “Those fraudulent emails resulted in the diversion of the school district’s bond payments to a different financial account established and controlled by Lockard.”
A total of $2,013,762.50 from three separate fraudulent wire transfers went to Lockard’s account on Feb. 12, 2020. Lockard’s prison sentence came after he pleaded guilty on April 12, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He also must pay $277,957.33 in restitution.
“We are grateful to the FBI for their expedient and diligent investigative efforts, which secured recovery for most of the funds stolen, and we look forward to the restoration of those funds to the community to which they rightfully belong,” U.S. Attorney Ashley Hoff said in the release.
Located in Del Rio, Texas, San Felipe-Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District has 10,331 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, Niche said.
“This case is especially repugnant due to the fact that a school district was defrauded out of more than $2 million,” FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Hudson said in the release. “The defendant showed complete disregard for the school district and the children it served while he bilked them out of needed resources and fraudulently used those funds for his own personal financial gain.”
