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Naia Wilson, 60, of Mattapan, who is charged with one count of wire fraud, told prosecutors that she will plead guilty in federal court at a later date, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said Tuesday, Aug. 1. She has also agreed to repay the $38,806 she stole from the Boston Public Schools system.
Wilson served as headmaster at New Mission School in Hyde Park from 2006 until 2019 and had "maximum autonomy" over its finances, the prosecutor said. Pilot schools are given more latitude over how they spend the public money given to them each year.
But Wilson abused that freedom by lying and redirecting public money into her pockets, authorities said.
Starting in 2016, Wilson requested checks from the school's fiscal agent in the name of other people, but she would deposit that money into her account, the prosecutor said. This continued through May 2019.
Wilson also fraudulently requested money to pay for luxurious vacations to Barbados for her and her friends in 2016 and again in 2018, authorities said. She asked that the checks be made payable to the people who went on the trip with her and then fraudulently endorsed them.
That money paid for an all-inclusive hotel and airfare, the prosecutor said.
Christopher DiMenna, head of FBI's Boston office, said Wilson used public money as a 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," he said in a news release.
Wilson faces up to 20 years in prison once she pleads guilty. Though, she will likely receive a lot less.
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