Transportation Official Used MCPS Money to Pay for Cars, Furniture, Landscaping

Charles Ewald, the former Assistant Director of Transportation for Montgomery Public Schools, set up a system to divert funds from MCPS to himself. When a bus vendor placed late and change fees owed to the school district they went into a separate account. Those funds were then available to Ewald for his personal use, according to court documents.

Ewald stole more than $320,000 “through misuse of his school system issued purchasing card and fabricated requests for reimbursement from money owed by a vendor to the school system” beginning in 2016 through the fall of 2021, when he was suspended.

A purchasing card is a credit card with the individual employee’s name on it, but MCPS is responsible for paying the debt.

According to his plea agreement, there was a spending limit of $500 per purchase card transaction. Ewald ran over that limit 80% of the time...

Transportation Official Used MCPS Money to Pay for Cars, Furniture, Landscaping - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)