Donna Eckert, 66, was arraigned Thursday on two grand larceny counts for the theft, the Nassau County District Attorney’s office said.
Eckert tricked the Hempstead Union Free School District into sending her the millions back in January 2024, according to prosecutors. She was arrested Wednesday, March 10 in her hometown of Escondido in Southern California, authorities said.
The scheme began with a compromised email account for the finance director at a Hempstead charter school, investigators said. The district received a fraudulent email on Jan. 29, 2024, requesting that payments be sent to a new bank account under the name “DME Unlimited,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Believing the request was legitimate, the district transferred about $3.5 million to the account on Jan. 31, 2024, prosecutors said. But investigators later determined the account belonged to Eckert.
In the days that followed the transfer, Eckert was seen on surveillance video withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars in cash from the account at banks in California, authorities said. She then deposited the cash into her own accounts, according to investigators, who said they tracked $338,000 of the missing money to Eckert.
Eckert was extradited to New York on Wednesday, April 1 and made her first court appearance on Thursday, prosecutors said. She pleaded not guilty and was released on bail set at $25,000 cash, $50,000 bond, or $150,000 partially secured bond, authorities said.
If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison, according to the DA’s office. She is due back in court on April 21.
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