Keys man convicted of stealing $2M from Texas school district with an email
A Florida Keys man has been convicted of laundering $2 million from a Texas school district after sending a sneaky email that tricked administrators into sending him the money electronically.
The Crowley Independent School District, in Crowley, Texas, had reserved the funds to build a new elementary school and thought it was paying a construction company with which it had done business.
Instead, Donald Howard Conkright, 62, of Big Pine Key, spent it his way, including dropping some of the money on Rolex watches and a BMW, after posing as a construction firm’s accountant in the email.
The crime is called “spear phishing,” a targeted cyber attempt to steal sensitive information or get someone to download malware.
Conkright, who contacted the district’s director of accounting, duped the district into wiring two payments, totaling $1,995,715.
After a three-day trial, a federal jury in Key West convicted him of conspiring to commit money laundering and substantive money laundering.
Conkright, who has been free on a $25,000 personal surety bond, is due back at U.S. District Court in Key West for sentencing on May 11 before Chief Judge Michael Moore.
On Oct. 24, 2018, Conkright sent the school district an email claiming to have the updated banking information for a construction company with which the school did business.
In reality, the banking information for the Iberia Bank account in Marathon belonged to Conkright, not Steele Freeman, a legitimate company.
Conkright made the email look like it was coming from a Steel Freeman accountant. By Nov. 14, 2019, the school district had dumped $2 million into Conkirght’s account.
Conkright even told Iberia Bank employees that he had bought a new Rolex, according to the initial indictment.
The Keys resident spent the school district’s money lavishly, prosecutors said.
He bought $70,000 worth of Rolex watches, more than $13,000 at Apple stores, and $128,000 on a BMW.
Conkright also withdrew more than $60,000 in cash, in increments under $10,000, wired out of the country about $875,000, and sent over $70,000 worth of computers to Nigeria.
Crowley superintendent Michael McFarland said the conviction sends a message to criminals who try to target school districts and governments with such scams, according to reporting by NBC 5 in Texas.
“We must all remain alert and vigilant together,” McFarland said in a statement.
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 8:14 AM.
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