Leonard Hart, Theft of Federal Program Funds, Pennsylvania 2023

Local Man Sentenced for Theft of Federal Funds

HARRISBURG – In a shocking turn of events, a York County man has been sentenced to five years of probation for his involvement in a complex scheme to steal federal program funds.

Leonard Hart, 50, of Mount Wolf, PA, was sentenced for obtaining by fraud and misapplying money from Lincoln Charter School (LCS) in York, Pennsylvania.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, LCS is a recipient of federal program funds because it receives grants funded by the U.S Department of Education—primarily Title I funding, which is financial assistance for schools with high numbers of children from low-income backgrounds.

In his role as Principal and CEO of LCS, Hart had the authority to approve reimbursement requests for employees pursuing further education. However, he misused this power to submit numerous requests for reimbursement for courses that he falsely claimed he was taking from a couple of universities.

Hart also falsified records to support these claims for tuition reimbursement and pressured a lower-level employee of the school and former LCS student to assist him in creating a forged diploma.

It was revealed that Hart submitted nearly 20 false and fraudulent reimbursement requests between 2018 and 2020, totaling $55,311 in federal funds. In addition to his sentence, Hart was ordered to pay the full amount in restitution, and presented a check for $10,000 toward his total restitution payments.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Ravi Romel Sharma prosecuting the case.

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