A former co-treasurer of a parent teacher association at an Upper East Side school was sentenced to up to five years in prison for stealing money from the PTA through unauthorized credit card payments, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Tuesday.
Marc Haynes, 37, was convicted of one count of grand larceny in the third degree for stealing around $185,000 from the PTA of P.S. 267 East Side Elementary School, located on East 63rd Street. Haynes, of Manhattan, used the stolen funds to pay for luxury travel, shopping, and court-ordered restitution.
Haynes pleaded guilty in New York Supreme Court to grand larceny in the second degree on Jan. 17. After paying back $83,000 as part of a plea deal, Haynes was permitted to re-plead to grand larceny in the third degree. Haynes has been ordered to pay the remaining $102,000 when he is released from prison.
Bragg said 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.”
Haynes was previously convicted in a separate case of grand larceny in the second degree for stealing from his former employer, a publishing company. Haynes was sentenced to five years of probation and required to pay $51,247 in restitution.
The former PTA co-treasurer, who served during the 2021-21 school year, had used some of the stolen PTA funds to pay two court-ordered restitution payments of $23,838, which he charged to his credit card, according to the DA. In addition to the restitution payments, Haynes used the funds to pay for credit card charges at luxury hotels in St. Lucia and Bermuda, and shopping purchases at Fendi, Restoration Hardware, and Pottery Barn. Those payments ranged from $2,389 to $32,000.
It wasn’t until October 2021 when one of the PTA’s co-treasurers “noticed a suspicious $9,081 transaction in one of the accounts.” Haynes was confronted about the transaction and claimed it was to reimburse another PTA member for an “urgent furniture purchase.”
After refusing to provide documentation to support his claims to the co-treasurers, Haynes ultimately resigned from his position at the PTA. The PTA then reported the thefts to the police and the DA’s office.
