Former HISD employee sentenced for stealing funds

HOUSTON Lydia Kinchen was convicted of misapplication of fiduciary property. She was indicted in 2007 for stealing $171,000 in district and taxpayer monies while she was employed as an accounting coordinator with HISD. The theft occurred from November 2005 through October 2006.

Kinchen faced a possible conviction range from two to twenty years in prison.

HISD Board President Greg Meyers and Superintendent Terry Grier attended the sentencing Wednesday to encourage Judge Vanessa Velasquez to sentence Kinchen to the maximum punishment permissible by law.

"Our students and the Houston taxpayers have been irreparably harmed by an orchestrated and planned theft of money that should have been used for education," said Grier. "We have implemented procedural safeguards to prevent any such future thefts of district and/or taxpayer funds."

HISD says it will pursue civil remedies for the remaining loss.