An Upper East Side father who stole more than $185,000 from the Parent-Teacher Association at his own son’s elementary school to pay for lavish hotels and luxury goods is trading trips high-end spas and designer duds for group showers and an orange jumpsuit.
Mark Haynes, 35, is in custody of the NYC Department of Corrections, sentenced to spend the next two-and-a-half-to-five years in prison on Tuesday as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
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“Marc Haynes used money stolen from his own child’s elementary school PTA to bankroll luxury vacations, shopping sprees and even to pay court-ordered restitution from a prior conviction,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, announcing the sentence.
Hanes served as Co-Treasurer of the PTA at East Side Elementary School — located on East 63rd Street between Third and Second Avenues — and was indicted by a grand jury last spring, accused of making 17 unauthorized payments using one of the PTA’s accounts from October 2020 to July 2021.
Prosecutors say Haynes admitted to making payments to his personal credit card ranging from $2,389 to $32,000 to cover charges he made for high-end hotels, as well as purchases at Fendi, Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn — even using the PTA’s money to pay court-ordered restitution in a 2016 theft case involving a former employer.
“I’m thankful to the unflagging efforts of the parents of the PS 267 PTA, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District and this Office’s Financial Frauds Bureau for thoroughly investigating this theft and holding him to account,” added the borough’s top prosecutor.
Haynes crimes came to light in October 2021, when one of the PTA’s Co-Treasurers noticed a suspicious $9,000 transaction, prosecutors say. When the co-treasurer confronted Haynes, who was serving as Co-President of the PTA at the time, first lied about how the money was spent, then resigned from his position.
As part of a deal reached earlier this year, Haynes pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, which would be reduced to a lower offense if Haynes paid back $185,7171.53 in restitution within 90 days and stayed out of trouble.
On Tuesday, Haynes re-pleaded guilty to that lesser charge Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, after paying back only about $83,000. However, the court ordered Haynes be liable to repay the remaining $102,000, prosecutors say.
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“Marc Haynes stole thousands of dollars from the PTA account of a local public school, money that should have been used to expand educational opportunities for the children of P.S. 267, and used it instead for personal enrichment,” said Anastasia Coleman, Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District.
“Such theft from our city’s school children should never go unanswered, and we thank D.A. Bragg and his team for vigorously pursuing prosecution and restitution in this matter,” Coleman added.
“If you believe your organization or company has been a victim of this type of scheme, call us at 212-335-8900 to report financial frauds,” said D.A. Bragg.
