Three Charged in Tulsa Public Schools Embezzlement Case

OKLAHOMA CITY — On Thursday, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced that a former Tulsa Public Schools executive and two others have been charged with 27 counts of conspiracy, embezzlement and kickbacks.
The charges are part of an ongoing scandal that has already sent one former employee to prison and launched a multi-year audit of Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) that uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in misspent funds and financial discrepancies.
“These were taxpayer dollars that voters approved in good faith to be invested in their community’s schools. This is an unconscionable betrayal of the public trust and an outrageous affront to every Tulsan who supported the district’s capital improvement projects,” said Drummond. “Tulsa Public Schools has many dedicated, hard-working teachers, administrators and students who deserved better than someone in a leadership position abusing his power to line his own pockets.”
TPS issued a statement commending Drummond’s actions to hold accountable those entrusted with money that’s supposed to go toward educating Tulsa’s children.
“Tulsa Public Schools is grateful to the Attorney General and the District Attorney as they announce next steps in the investigation to recover funds previously misappropriated from the district,” reads the district’s statement. “The district is cooperating with all relevant law enforcement agencies and wholly supports their efforts to determine the extent of any past wrongdoing on the part of a former employee. Tulsa Public Schools is fully committed to providing any and all support to agencies pursuing justice in this matter. Our students and community deserve every dollar meant for them, and we vigorously support every effort to protect those resources.”
The TPS district has been undergoing an extensive audit by State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd since June 2022. Drummond said the charges announced Thursday came as a result of information obtained by the audit, which is expected to be released in July 2026.
Gov. Kevin Stitt had ordered the audit after Devin Fletcher, a former TPS administrator, resigned amid allegations of fraudulent contracts. Fletcher eventually pleaded guilty in federal court and was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison and to make $600,000 in restitution for embezzlement.
In February, Byrd announced the auditor’s office had already found the district spent more than $25 million without going through the proper bidding procedures. The audit found administrators routinely broke large transactions up into amounts just below the $50,000 threshold that would require board approval, resulting in $860,000 in unauthorized spending. The audit has also uncovered several instances of school officials having a financial conflict of interest with their spending authority and outside business interests.
On Thursday, Drummond announced that Chris Hudgins, former executive director of bond and emergency management at the school district, is accused of conspiring with Gayle Gwinup and Thomas McKenna, partners of Tulsa-based Allied Engineering Group (AEG). Hudgins allegedly directed Tulsa schools to pay AEG more than $779,000 in roofing projects where they did not perform any work. In turn, AEG paid more than $736,000 to subcontract Hudgins’ personal architecture consulting firm, M&G Consulting, for bogus work. McKenna also used a separate company, Starr Design Group Inc., to continue the scheme at additional TPS campuses. In addition, Hudgins ran his business while on district time and with district resources.
Drummond said the charges are particularly egregious since it involved money approved in a bond-issue election.
Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler emphasized the harm done to the Tulsa community.
“Tulsa Public Schools exists to educate children not to fund the private schemes of those entrusted to manage its resources. Instead, Tulsa students and teachers went without the improved schools and facilities that were rightfully theirs,” said Kunzweiler. “The families of Tulsa deserve to know that this type of alleged conduct has consequences, and my office intends to find truth, seek justice and hold wrongdoers accountable.”
Hudgins left the district in February 2025. In announcing the charges, Drummond’s office noted that every person arrested or charged is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.