Arizona Department of Education—Criminal Indictment—Computer Tampering and Fraudulent Schemes

As part of their responsibility to prevent and detect fraud, Arizona Department of Education (Department) officials took appropriate action by reporting to us alleged financial misconduct by Tyler Grandil, the Department’s former Future Farmers of America (FFA) executive secretary within the Career and Technical Education department. Our investigation revealed that from March 2011 through December 2015, after opening a secret checking account with himself as the only signer, Mr. Grandil deposited therein $1,700,939 of Arizona Association FFA (AZFFA) monies that should have been deposited in a Department checking account, altering Department accounting records to conceal his actions. Without the Department’s or AZFFA’s knowledge, Mr. Grandil spent this money for AZFFA and personal purposes. Because monies were commingled and certain records were not available, we were unable to determine how much of this money was used for AZFFA purposes. However, from this secret account, Mr. Grandil issued 28 checks totaling $40,950 to himself, his family members, or their companies. We have submitted our report to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which on May 31, 2023, presented evidence to the State Grand Jury. The action resulted in Mr. Grandil’s indictment on 6 felony counts related to computer tampering and fraudulent schemes.