The DeKalb County (Georgia) School Superintendent has been indicted on charges of wire fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion in connection with alleged conduct in his previous job in Illinois.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Devon Horton, who has led the DeKalb County district since 2023, has been placed on administrative leave, effective immediately.
Norman C. Sauce III, the district’s chief of student services, has been named acting superintendent.
Horton has been accused in a federal indictment of steering contracts in the Evanston-Skokie School District 65 to his longtime friends, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The alleged corruption took place between 2020 and 2023, the three years that Horton led the suburban Chicago district.
Horton allegedly steered contracts to companies owned by his associates that were created for the purpose of getting contracts with District 65. Those companies allegedly put money into a sibling’s bank account, which was then funneled to Horton.
The contracts totaled roughly $280,000, and about $85,000 was kicked back to Horton, according to the indictment.
In addition to Horton, the grand jury indicted three others, including Antonio Ross, a former principal at Hyde Park Academy in Chicago, and Alfonso Lewis, who was the athletic director at Hyde Park Academy under Ross.
As superintendent in DeKalb, Georgia ’s third-largest public school district, Horton has a base annual salary of $360,000. His contract was recently extended to 2028.
Horton was hired in DeKalb County a year after the board fired Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris. Watson-Harris, who had been first deputy chancellor in the New York City school system, was ousted in 2022 after less than two years. The DeKalb board said it had lost confidence in her leadership.
