HOUSTON – Kristi Williams, the former Tomball ISD Manager of Property Tax Administration, has been federally charged with wire fraud after an investigation by FBI Houston.
A federal criminal information filed Tuesday alleges Williams stole nearly $1 million in tax payments to the school district.
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She has been summoned to appear in federal court on July 13.
According to court records, Williams held the tax manager position from January 2018 to November 2023 and her alleged fraud scheme ran from September 2018 through June 2023.
KPRC 2 News has reached out to Tomball ISD for additional information.
Williams allegedly ran the district’s tax office that collected local property taxes, court records show. When a taxpayer paid in cash, an employee would put the money in an envelope and record the payment using the district’s tax collection software as part of a group of payments.
Once the payments in the group reached $15,000, federal authorities said the group of payments would be closed out in the software and Williams was supposed to deposit the cash into the school district’s bank accounts.
Instead, Williams allegedly stole $996,174 of cash from the tax office, prosecutors allege, which she disguised using the software to “reverse” cash payments recorded in certain groups, record them in new groups, and keep the new groups open for long periods, according to records.
KPRC 2 News has reached out to Williams’ listed defense attorney for a response to the allegations and this story will be updated if a response is received.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has not commented on the federal charge against Williams.
Wednesday, Tomball ISD released the following letter to district families and staff:
Dear Tomball ISD Families and Staff,
Today, we want to share information regarding a federal criminal case involving a former Tomball ISD Tax Office employee, Kristi Williams.
Federal authorities have charged the former employee with wire fraud after alleging the theft of $996,174 from the District’s Tax Office over a period of time.
When Tomball ISD identified suspicious financial activity in 2023, District leadership acted immediately to investigate, resulting in the immediate termination of the employee and the investigation being turned over to federal law enforcement. The District has cooperated with law enforcement but due to the federal investigation, the District was and remains unable to disclose details.
Since discovering the allegations, Tomball ISD has worked diligently to strengthen internal controls and financial oversight to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. Tomball ISD is pursuing every available avenue to seek restitution of the funds, including a claim against our surety bond that is required to be held for events of this nature. We want to assure our taxpayers that this incident has no impact on taxpayer accounts.
While this allegation represents the actions of one former employee, it does not reflect the integrity, professionalism, and dedication demonstrated every day by the thousands of employees who serve our students and community.
We know our community may have questions. Because this is an active federal case, we are unable to comment further on the ongoing legal proceedings at this time.
We understand that this news is disappointing and concerning. We remain committed to responsible stewardship of public funds and to earning and maintaining the confidence our community places in Tomball ISD.
Sincerely,
Tomball ISD Administration