Charles Ewald, the former Assistant Director of Transportation for Montgomery Public Schools, set up a system to divert funds from MCPS to himself. When a bus vendor placed late and change fees owed to the school district they went into a separate account. Those funds were then available to Ewald for his personal use, according to court documents.
Ewald stole more than $320,000 “through misuse of his school system issued purchasing card and fabricated requests for reimbursement from money owed by a vendor to the school system” beginning in 2016 through the fall of 2021, when he was suspended.
A purchasing card is a credit card with the individual employee’s name on it, but MCPS is responsible for paying the debt.
According to his plea agreement, there was a spending limit of $500 per purchase card transaction. Ewald ran over that limit 80% of the time.
His supervisor, former Director of Transportation Todd Watkins, pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in office for not adequately reviewing Ewald’s purchasing card charges and ensuring that his employee used the card correctly.
According to his job requirements, Watkins “was required to approve each purchasing card transaction” in his department. Of the roughly 2,000 people in his department, 11 were issued purchasing cards.
Watkins pled guilty June 30 and was released on his own recognizance and will be sentenced Sept. 11. He faces probation to six months for pleading guilty to one count of misconduct.
Ewald pled guilty May 18 to a felony theft scheme and misconduct in office. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
According to Ewald’s plea agreement, he asked Steven Leonard, president of American Truck and Bus Company, to set up a separate account for funds owed to MCPS regarding change orders and delivery delays. Then, Ewald emailed the company multiple times asking for money from that account.
Ewald led the bus vendor to believe he had the authority to do this, according to the plea agreement.
Altogether, American Truck and Bus Copany sent Ewald $350,568.68, of which only $28,054.10 was legitimately reimbursed to MCPS.
An investigation showed that Ewald used that money to pay off a loan on his 2018 Lincoln Navigator, have landscaping work done, pay off his credit card bills, buy furniture and purchase a Dodge Viper.
When Watkins was informed of the malfeasance, he confronted Ewald, who admitted what he had done.
After learning of the discrepancies, MCPS hired professional forensic auditors.
“It was because of that great work, and significant cooperation with our police partners, that MCPS has recovered in excess of $800,000,” Spokesperson Jessica Baxter said.
Since its investigation, the school district has chosen a new vendor for buses, revised its internal structures that monitor finance and procurement, provided retraining for staff who use purchase cards, evaluated employees with access to purchase cards and decreased the limits for card purchasing, according to Baxter.
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