Two top officials at a school in New York have been accused of spending funds for at-risk students on personal items.
On Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Westchester County District Attorney announced in a press release that two former officials at Greenburgh-Graham Union Free School District — which serves at-risk students from kindergarten to 12th grade — had been charged with multiple public corruption offenses after over $50,000 of school money was alleged to have been spent on items such as jewelry and luxury handbags.
Per a felony complaint, cited in the press release, the school district’s former superintendent, Oliver Levy, and former security system specialist, Surendra Kumar, allegedly purchased 168 gift cards and “instead of spending the full sum of these funds on school-related expenses, the defendants are accused of diverting over $50,000 from the gift cards to personal expenses, such as jewelry, luxury handbags, private school fees for relatives, and veterinary services.”
Levy, 55, and Kumar, 48, were charged with second-degree and third-degree grand larceny as crimes of public corruption, along with second-degree and third-degree grand larceny and corrupting the Government in the second and third degrees. The top charge — second-degree grand larceny as a crime of public corruption — carries a maximum potential sentence of 8 to 25 years in prison.
The pair, who were arrested in May 2024, were charged before Westchester County Court Judge Anne Bianchi on Wednesday morning. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Levy began working at the school as a teaching assistant in 2008 and was promoted to superintendent in 2018.
Per the release, the felony complaint alleges that he “aided, abetted, and acted in concert with Mr. Kumar, then a security system specialist, to purchase 168 gift cards between July 2018 and June 2022.”
“School administrators allegedly stealing from students they are supposed to serve is reprehensible,” New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said in a statement. “My thanks to the Westchester County District Attorney’s office for partnering with my office and continuing to pursue justice in this case and holding these individuals accountable.”
Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacace added, “Any theft of public funds represents a fundamental breach of public trust. That breach is amplified when the allegations concern an institution serving our most vulnerable.”
“The funds in this case that were allegedly diverted to the defendants could have been used for student achievement,” Cacace continued. “My office will work diligently to ensure that the students and parents at Greenburgh-Graham are made whole.”
Per the school district’s website, “Greenburgh Graham is a K-12 school district that serves students in with classifications of Emotional Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Other Health Impairment, Learning Disability, Speech or Language Impairment, Multiple Disabilities, and more.”
A spokesperson for Greenburgh-Graham Union Free School District did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. (People)