Bad Dad Gets Up To 5 Years For $185K UES School Theft: DA

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — This dad is going from the school PTA to Con College.

A former Upper East Side school PTA treasurer, Marc Haynes, was handed a sentence yesterday of up to five years in prison for embezzling $185,000 from his own children's elementary school via illegal credit card transactions, said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“Marc Haynes used money stolen from his own child’s elementary school PTA to bankroll luxury vacations, shopping sprees and even to pay court-ordered restitution from a prior conviction,” said Bragg in a statement on Tuesday.

Haynes, 37, pleaded guilty to using the PTA's bank accounts to pay off luxury purchases on his own credit card, including for luxury stays at Caribbean hotels and shopping sprees at Fendi, Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn, according to the D.A.'s office.

In addition to his prison time, the dad will have to pay back all of the stolen funds, officials said, adding that $83,000 has already been paid.

His spending frenzy took place during the 2020-2021 school year, a time when schools desperately struggled with educating young children during the height of the pandemic.

“Marc Haynes stole thousands of dollars from the PTA account of a local public school, money that should have been used to expand educational opportunities for the children of P.S. 267, and used it instead for personal enrichment,” said NYC School District Special Commissioner Anastasia Coleman.

And he could have gotten away with it if not for a new co-treasurer who spotted an unusual $9,000 purchase which lacked documentation, prosecutors said.

In what could have been a sort-of half-truth, Haynes told the other parent that the purchase was to reimburse an "urgent furniture purchase." Unsatisfied, the PTA discovered even more unexplained payments, leading them to reach out to Bragg's office, according to prosecutors.

Haynes first grand larceny conviction was back in 2016 when he was found guilty of stealing over $50,000 from his former employer, a publishing company. Prosecutors said he used $23,838 of the stolen PTA money to contribute to the restitution still owed in that case.

The Manhattan D.A.'s office says that if you suspect your company or organization might be victim to a similar scheme, call their office at 212-335-8900 to report financial frauds.

Haynes will serve two-and-a-half to five years in a state prison, prosecutors said, and will be required to pay back the remaining $102,000 in restitution after his release.