Former Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Superintendent Devon Horton and two Chicago Public Schools administrators were indicted Thursday on federal charges of embezzlement and wire fraud, court documents show.
Additionally, Horton is charged with tax fraud, and a fourth person is also named in the indictment.
The U.S. Attorney’s office of Northern Illinois is accusing Horton of receiving at least $81,000 in kickbacks from CPS employees Antonio Ross and Alfonzo Lewis, and a fourth man named Samuel Ross, after Horton approved contracts from 2020 to 2023 for work supposedly done in the district.
The indictment states Horton made deals with the men, identified in the 37-page indictment as his friends, without properly disclosing their collective financial interests.
Horton served as the district’s superintendent from 2019 to 2023, when he resigned to lead the DeKalb County School District in suburban Atlanta, Georgia.
“We are deeply troubled and angered by these allegations,” District 65 board President Sergio Hernandez and Vice President Nichole Pinkard wrote in a statement about the indictment. “Now that the federal government has formally indicted, the District is reviewing the specific details of the indictment with the District’s legal counsel. A more detailed statement will be forthcoming after we have had an opportunity to review the details of the indictment.”
Hernandez and Pinkard wrote that the district had been aware of the government’s investigation and has cooperated with them.
“At the request of federal authorities, we have maintained confidentiality to protect the integrity of the investigation,” they wrote in the statement.
Representatives for CPS and the other men named in the indictment could not be immediately reached.
The 17-count indictment alleges that Horton, Samuel Ross, Antonio Ross and Lewis created companies to apply for work contracts with District 65. Horton, in his capacity as the superintendent, got the contracts approved.
Samuel Ross, Antonio Ross and Lewis lied about the work they did for the district and sent phony work invoices to receive pay, according to the federal court document. Then, Horton received kickbacks from his trio of “friends.”
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The feds say that Horton, Antonio Ross and Lewis went so far as to hide the kickback payments by funneling the money through a person identified as Horton’s “sibling.”
An embezzlement charge carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence and fine of $100,000 or twice the amount of funds stolen. The wire fraud charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Before being hired by District 65, Horton was the chief of schools for Jefferson County in Kentucky for five years.
Horton began his career as a Chicago Public Schools teacher before becoming a principal and then assistant superintendent for East St. Louis Public School District 189. According to news reports, Horton received a bachelor’s degree in education from Jackson State University, and a master’s degree and doctorate from Chicago State University.
A spokesperson for District 65 did not immediately respond to Pioneer Press requests for more information, including whether the district will pay for Horton’s defense on the charges.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago declined to comment further on the indictment.
The Horton indictment comes as District 65 is under severe financial strain, grappling with cutting up to $15 million in expenses and closing as many as four of its schools at the end of the academic year. Critics have blamed Horton for the ongoing strife because he had pushed to build a new school in Evanston’s historically Black 5th Ward while student enrollment dwindled before, during and after the pandemic.
Had the district not implemented financial restructuring plan, a financial consultant warned the Board of Education in 2024 that a state takeover was likely.