A former public high school staffer skimmed $415,000 in taxpayer cash meant for students \u2014 to fund her own private cheerleading business, Queens prosecutors charged Thursday.<\/p>\n
Abi Corbin, 53, worked as a community associate at the East-West School of International Studies, PS 281 in Flushing, when she allegedly ran the scam, from July 2021 through July 2024, the Queens District Attorney\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n
As part of her job, Corbin was responsible for processing work orders to purchase materials for the school, which does not have a cheerleading team, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n
Abi Corbin is charged with steering $415,000 from a Queens high school for her private cheerleading company. Abi Jones Corbin Facebook<\/p>\n
Instead, Corbin used the principal\u2019s login information and signature to buy merch for her own business Queens Campus Cheer, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of purchasing necessary educational materials to help students thrive, the defendant is accused of stealing school funds for her own private cheerleading company,\u201d Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheft of public funds intended for our students is a serious breach of trust,\u201d Katz said. \u201cMy office will hold accountable anyone who violates that trust and undermines the integrity of our public education system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scheme fell apart on July 31, 2024, when the principal learned that boxes of cheerleading supplies had been delivered to the Flushing campus \u2014 even though the school doesn\u2019t have a cheerleading team, and Corbin\u2019s company was not associated with the city school system, the DA\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
The East-West School of International Studies knew something was off when they got cheerleading supplies. Google Maps<\/p>\n
Queens DA Melinda Katz said Abi Corbin deprived city students of materials and services they deserved. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n
The school district\u2019s Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation launched a probe, which led to Corbin surrendering Thursday to face grand larceny and identify theft charges.<\/p>\n
She was released without bail pending a return court date on Dec. 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbi Corbin\u2019s actions, as alleged, were a brazen abuse of her official position and a clear violation of the public trust,\u201d said Anastasia Coleman, the school system\u2019s special commissioner of investigations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hundreds of thousands of dollars she diverted to her private cheerleading business represent vital taxpayer funds intended for the education and well-being of East-West School students,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Abi Corbin, 53, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of grand larceny and identity theft charges. Abi Jones Corbin Facebook<\/p>\n
Corbin\u2019s attorney, Joseph Amsel, told The Post that his client pleaded not guilty to the charges and said he looks forward to defending the case as it moves forward.<\/p>\n
She faces a maximum prison term of five to 15 years behind bars, if convicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former public high school staffer skimmed $415,000 in taxpayer cash meant for students \u2014 to fund her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[3064,57,9,24,63,5269,209,122,124,123,797,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-5530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-melinda-katz","9":"tag-metro","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-prosecutors","14":"tag-public-schools","15":"tag-queens","16":"tag-queens-headlines","17":"tag-queens-news","18":"tag-theft","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}