DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The former DeKalb County Schools superintendent spent more than $120,000 on his district purchase card in just two years.
Only Channel 2 Action News obtained the documents showing Dr. Devon Horton’s spending.
Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes called and emailed the district several times and walked through these doors – to ask for the documents in person but it wasn’t until an attorney was brought into the mix that my request was finally fulfilled.
“I’ve never heard of these kind of expenditures with any other superintendent in DeKalb County Schools before,” said Sen. Emanuel Jones, District 10.
Jones represents the area the school district sits in. He said he’s always questioned why four current school board members voted to hire Horton two years ago.
Jones says Horton was never one of the top candidates in the nationwide search.
“Certainly, there was a clique, or a group of members on the school board, who have tried to protect things that knew about him early on,” he said.
Horton is currently under federal indictment, accused of stealing money from his last school district in Illinois.
That’s what led to the request for Horton’s district P-cards.
According to the documents, Horton spent $11,000 during one visit to Sam’s Club.
He racked up $8,700 on one check at Jason’s Deli, and a visit to the Italian restaurant Bambinelli’s cost the district $4,500.
Another meal at that same restaurant was $3,100.
And there’s more - he spent $3,000 on a trip to Honey Baked Ham and $2,600 at Chick-fil-A on a single charge.
In total, he spent more than $120,000 in two years as superintendent, and he didn’t need board approval.
“How did they let this go on for so long without any kind of accountability?” Jones said. “I mean, we knew of the issues he was having. That was plain to everybody, and you would think they would put some kind of controls in place considering how contentious the process had been in bringing him on board.”
The four board members who hired Horton did not respond to requests for comment.
“We remain committed to transparency, fiscal responsibility, and the appropriate stewardship of public funds,” a school district spokesperson said in a statement.
The district spokesperson also said the board approved a contract to conduct a forensic audit looking into Horton’s spending less than a month after he resigned from office.
About three months later, we’re still waiting on the results of that audit.
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