Cold Open. A man paid to protect a school district’s money has admitted in federal court that he helped drain it. On October 5, 2026, former Evanston/Skokie District 65 Superintendent Devon Horton pleaded guilty. He has not yet been sentenced.
The Record
Horton pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin in the Northern District of Illinois to three counts: wire fraud, embezzlement and a federal tax count. They are counts 1, 14 and 16 of a 17-count indictment returned in October 2025, according to Atlanta News First and the Daily Northwestern. He had pleaded not guilty to all 17 on October 24, 2025. Sentencing is set for January 5, 2027.
Charges are not proof. A guilty plea is. Horton admitted these counts. The other counts in the original indictment are no longer in play for him, and the co-defendants’ cases are separate.
The Receipts
Per the Daily Northwestern’s report on the plea deal, Horton admitted the following:
- The fraud against District 65 totaled at least $283,500 between April 2022 and June 2023.
- At least $81,700 of that money went to Horton personally.
- That money moved through the companies of three co-defendants, who received service contracts from the district.
- He used a District 65 credit card for roughly $31,000 in personal expenses, gift cards and personal vehicle costs from January 2022 through June 2023.
- He did not report his personal connections to the contractors, and he ignored a board policy requiring written notice of contacts over $25,000.
- The tax loss to the United States was about $31,512.60.
The indictment is broader than the plea. It alleged a kickback scheme running from January 2022 to August 2024, with 13 counts tied to fake service contracts for the defendants’ own companies, per the Daily Northwestern. Those are allegations in the indictment, not admissions.
One co-defendant, Samuel Ross, has also pleaded guilty to wire fraud and agreed to testify against the others, who pleaded not guilty, according to the same reporting.
The Pattern
The money was never the whole story. The system that should have caught this was a board policy about disclosure, and the policy was ignored. Horton then moved on to lead Georgia’s DeKalb County School District, and Atlanta News First now calls him the former DeKalb superintendent.
That is the Legitimacy Gap. Taxpayers are told the rules protect students. The rules only work if the person at the top follows them.
The Verdict
Horton has admitted the scheme. The U.S. Attorney says his sentencing guideline range is 87 to 108 months if the court finds he accepted responsibility, and 121 to 151 months if not, per Atlanta News First. Guidelines are advisory. The judge decides on January 5.
Seven to twelve years is the range. The public money is already gone.
Your Verdict
Should a superintendent who steals from students get the low end of the guidelines for taking responsibility, or the high end for abusing the most trusted job in town? Tell us what you think.
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