A husband and wife team was sentenced for their roles in a scheme that defrauded the NYC Department of Education (DOE) of more than $170,000 through fraudulent purchase orders and invoices, according to the Bronx District Attorney’s office on Tuesday.
Darcel Clark, the borough’s district attorney, said that Rusnelly Clase, 42, was sentenced to six months in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision. Meanwhile, her husband, Justin Echevarria, 38, was sentenced to five years of probation. Both were sentenced on July 14 before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Steven Hornstein.
The couple, who hail from Yonkers, pleaded guilty on April 9 this year to fourth-degree corrupting the government.
According to the investigation, the scheme took place between 2018 and February 2022 while Clase worked as a community coordinator at M.S. 302 in Longwood. She worked there for more than 10 years.
Clase used her access to the school’s procurement and accounting systems, authorities said, to register her husband and a buddy as non-contracted vendors with the DOE.
Investigators alleged that Clase created fraudulent purchase orders and vendor invoices for clothing, including sweatshirts, shorts, T-shirts, and jackets. She then used unauthorized access to approve the invoices, resulting in more than $90,000 in payments to her husband and around $75,000 to the co-conspirator, both of whom kicked back some of the illicit proceeds to Clase.
The DA’s office said no merchandise was ever delivered.
Clark said the scheme deprived essential money from NYC public schools.
“The female defendant, a longtime employee with the New York City Department of Education, used her position to falsify purchase orders,” she said. “She engaged her husband and a friend in this crime of greed that stole more than $170,000, money that should have been used for the education of our schoolchildren.”
To date, Clase has paid $50,000 in restitution and has been ordered to pay an additional $36,654.88. Echevarria was also ordered to pay $47,448.63, the DA’s office said.
Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI) for city’s school district was part of the team that investigated the crime.
“The New York City public school system is not a personal piggy bank. Every dollar stolen from our schools is a dollar taken away from New York City’s students,” Special Commissioner Anastasia Coleman said. “SCI will continue holding accountable anyone who exploits their public position and misuses resources that belong in our classrooms. We like to thank the DA’s Financial Frauds Bureau for working closely with our investigators on this important matter.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Robert F. Lindston and Zachary Reid of the Financial Frauds Bureau, under the supervision of Eugene Bykov, supervisor of the Financial Frauds Bureau, Pia Freedman, supervisor of the Financial Frauds Bureau, Michelle Milanes, deputy chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau, and Herman Wun, chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Denise Kodjo, deputy chief of the Investigations Division, and Wanda Perez-Maldonado, chief of the Investigations Division.