Debbie Buckley Sentenced in Buffalo School Funds Scam

Debbie Buckley, 56, of Niagara Falls, NY, is headed down a road paved with broken rules and stolen taxpayer dollars after being sentenced to three years probation for stealing $15,120 from Buffalo City Schools. The former Supervisor of Title I in the district’s Office of Federal and State Programs was convicted of theft of government funds, marking the end of a scheme that exploited one of the most vulnerable corners of public education.

Buckley, promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Federal and State Programs in March 2010, didn’t just bend the system — she rewired it. In June 2009, she met with a representative from Universal School after it opened in Buffalo. She requested and received blank, signed letterhead, claiming it would help integrate the school into federal assistance programs. Instead, she used it to forge a letter requesting her own son, Hassan El Saddique, be hired to run a nonexistent Title I computer program at the school.

That lie birthed a paper trail of fraud. A contract was drawn up assigning El Saddique to provide full-time services at Universal School during the 2009-10 school year. The truth? He never worked there. He volunteered a few hours weekly at Bishop Timon High School — unrelated to the contract. Still, he submitted weekly invoices to the district for full-time pay, including for days when schools were closed.

Buckley cleared the path for the payouts by altering the approval process. She eliminated the requirement for a non-public school official’s signature on contractor invoices — a move that allowed her to personally approve her son’s fake claims. The scheme ran from September 8, 2009, through June 30, 2010, overlapping with her promotion to Assistant Superintendent.

El Saddique received 18 paychecks totaling $15,120. Of those, 13 were deposited into union accounts controlled by Buckley — $10,320 funneled straight into her financial orbit. One check was cashed using one of those same accounts. The money was spent. The fraud was brazen. And the investigation didn’t stop at her desk.

Hassan El Saddique was convicted of theft of money in control and possession of a bank, sentenced to one year of supervised release, and ordered to pay full restitution. Today’s sentencing, delivered by Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, closes the book on a case led by FBI Special Agents under Special Agent-in-Charge Adam S. Cohen and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General, directed by Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Geoff Wood.

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