The former head of the New Mission School in Hyde Park allegedly defrauded BPS of tens of thousands of dollars to go on extravagant Barbados vacations with her friends, heads of the DOJ’s District of Massachusetts, FBI and Boston Police alleged Tuesday morning.
“We will not allow this type of gross abuse of authority and responsibility fly under the radar,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy in a DOJ release. “Individuals who take advantage of public trust to line their pockets will be investigated and held accountable.”
Naia Wilson, 60, of Mattapan, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and pay restitution, the release stated. She will appear in federal court in Boston at a “later date,” according to prosecutors.
Wilson, who served as the Head of School at the autonomous pilot school in BPS from 2006 to 2019, over time allegedly engaged in a scheme to defraud the district of approximately $38,806 by misusing school funds for her own personal use, according to the department.
As a pilot school, the release stated, New Mission was “granted maximum autonomy” over its budget and spending and receives a lump sum per pupil budget from BPS spent at the discretion of the administration.
As Head of School, the department states, Wilson was required to make formal check requests to withdraw funds managed by an external fiscal agent.
From around September 2016 through May 2019, Wilson allegedly requested checks in the name of other people, fraudulently endorsed the checks to herself and deposited them into her own bank account, the department outlines.
Some of those checks, according to the release, allegedly paid for two all-inclusive personal vacations to Barbados in 2016 and 2018. Wilson allegedly requested checks payable to her friends who went on the trips and converted the money to pay for the hotel and airfare.
Instead of working on behalf of her students, said Christopher DiMenna, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Boston Division, Wilson “is accused of abusing her authority and using the school’s budget as her own personal slush fund.”
“Today’s charges should serve as a reminder to municipal workers everywhere that there are serious consequences for such shameful conduct, and it is the taxpayers they serve and answer to at the end of the day,” said DiMenna.
Under sentencing guidelines for the wire fraud charge, Wilson may serve up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.