By Brian Argabright
A Georgia man has pled guilty to stealing more than $2 million from the local public school district.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District Court of Texas, Donald Ray Lockard, 66, of Douglasville, Ga., pled guilty Monday before U.S. District Judge Alia Moses to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of a phishing scheme to steal more than $2 million from the San Felipe Del Rio CISD in 2019 and 2020.
“The district is appreciative of every effort on the part of all federal agencies involved, particularly the FBI and now the federal courts. We are especially pleased with everyone’s swift actions taken on behalf of justice and our community’s students,” San Felipe Del Rio CISD Superintendent Dr. Carlos Rios said Tuesday morning.
In August 2020, Lockard was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three substantive counts of wire fraud for his role in the theft. He had been free on bond since his initial indictment.
Lockard still faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
According to a Del Rio News-Herald story published in September 2020, the wire fraud charge stemmed from Lockard working with others to defraud the San Felipe Del Rio CISD by sending fake or false emails to the school district’s comptroller while posing as a BOK Financial representative.
Three transfers occurred from August 2019 to February 2020. The funds were used for Lockard’s personal benefit though documents do not reveal how he spent any of the money.
A total of $2,013,762.50 was transferred to a bank account registered as DL Investments by Lockard, which he was accused of opening in August 2019.
“During this investigation, federal authorities seized over $1.8 million from the defendant’s bank accounts. Lockard has agreed to forfeit those funds and pay a monetary judgment for the remaining amount derived from his scheme that was not recovered by the government,” a release from the United States Attorney’s Office read.
The theft forced the school district’s board of trustees to unanimously approve a reallocation of $2.14 million from general funds to debt service payments on Feb. 24, 2020, in order to cover the unauthorized transfer.
