Federal prosecutors say a veteran administrator at one of D.C.’s marquee STEM schools quietly turned the supply closet into her own cash machine. Tracy Hatton, a 60-year-old administrative officer at McKinley Technology High School, has admitted in a federal guilty plea that she took cash bribes and approved payments for school supplies that never showed up on campus. Prosecutors say Hatton personally pocketed at least $30,000, while DC Public Schools was left holding the bag for an overall loss topping $40,000. Her plea was unsealed on July 9, 2026, and a judge has set sentencing for November 5, 2026.
According to Daily Voice, court papers say Hatton controlled McKinley’s supply budget and used her government-issued purchasing card to pay an approved DC Public Schools vendor for products that never arrived. Prosecutors allege the vendor’s owner then kicked back cash to Hatton in exchange for the stream of school business she directed to the company.
How Prosecutors Say the Scheme Worked
Investigators say the bribery scheme was not a one-off slip but a long-running operation. According to prosecutors, from October 2020 through September 2023, Hatton approved purchase orders and signed off on invoices even though the supplies listed were never delivered to McKinley Tech.
During that three-year span, the contractor allegedly charged Hatton’s government purchasing card for those undelivered products, then funneled cash back to her as a reward for steering DCPS funds to the vendor. Prosecutors say the paper trail of charges and nonexistent deliveries lined up neatly with the kickbacks they accuse Hatton of taking.
Scale of the Loss and Legal Timeline
Federal prosecutors estimate that Hatton personally received at least $30,000, while DC Public Schools suffered more than $40,000 in losses, per Daily Voice. Court records show she actually entered her guilty plea back in November 2025, but it remained under seal until July 9, 2026. Her sentencing is currently scheduled for November 5, 2026.
What This Could Mean for Oversight
The case highlights how vulnerable school budgets can be when a single staffer holds the keys to purchasing and vendor approvals. The allegations are likely to fuel calls for DC Public Schools to revisit how it oversees government purchasing cards, monitors invoices and vets vendors.
Prosecutors say their case leaned heavily on financial records, invoices and vendor payment data detailed in court filings. Those same records, they note, will help shape restitution and forfeiture recommendations when Hatton returns to court for sentencing.
