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Ex-Cedarhurst Special Education Head Admits to $418K Theft

The ex-head of a defunct special education pre-school on Long Island has admitted to giving $418,000 in taxpayer money to his relatives instead of the students he was supposed to help.

Morton Kramer pleaded guilty Friday in Manhattan court to grand larceny charges.

“Instead of providing these young children with the special education services they needed, the defendant stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money and used it to line the pockets of his relatives,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a news release.

Prosecutors said the Kramer was the executive director of Cedarhurst-based IncludED Educational Services when he inappropriately charged New York City’s Department of Education and other school districts for salaries paid to his sons and other relatives over a three-year period.

The relatives in turn performed little or no services to children between the ages of three and five in the special education programs, authorities said.

The scheme was uncovered in an audit by New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office.

Kramer was sentenced to pay $418,000 in restitution, five years probation and will have to divest his ownership of IncludEd. He is also banned for life from providing special education services for the state.