Criminal charges revealed former Tulsa Public Schools bond director Hudgins directed a decade-long kickback scheme benefiting his own company

On June 4, 2026, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler filed 27 criminal counts of conspiracy, embezzlement and kickback violations against former Tulsa Public Schools Executive Director of Bonds and Energy Management Charles Christopher Hudgins and two contractors, Thomas McKenna and Gayle Gwinup, partners in Tulsa-based Allied Engineering Group. Prosecutors alleged that Hudgins, who controlled vendor selection and oversight for the district's voter-approved bond projects, directed the district to pay Allied Engineering more than $779,000 for roofing projects the company never performed. Allied Engineering then funneled roughly $736,000 of that money to M&G Consulting, Hudgins' own private architecture firm, for work Drummond said was also never performed. Drummond said at a news conference that Hudgins additionally ran his private business on district time using district resources, calling the scheme "not a mistake" and "not an oversight."

The charges followed a Tulsa Public Schools audit ordered in 2022 by Gov. Kevin Stitt after two TPS board members raised concerns, conducted by State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd's office, which first flagged Hudgins' conflict of interest in a February 2025 report and referred the matter to the Attorney General. Hudgins had left the district in February 2025. Hudgins, McKenna and Gwinup were each charged in Tulsa County District Court with conspiracy to defraud a school district, multiple counts of embezzlement, and making or receiving kickbacks; all three have pleaded not guilty. Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Ebony Johnson said the district cooperated with the investigation and had put new financial-oversight safeguards in place.

Updates

2026-08-18 — State audit raised the documented misspending total to $3.73 million [4]

State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd released the final installment of her office's audit of Tulsa Public Schools, finding that the scheme Hudgins ran from 2015 to 2025 diverted $3.73 million in bond and rebate funds -- well above the $779,317 originally charged. Auditors found Allied Engineering paid more than $2.6 million of the district's money directly to Hudgins' personal business, and separately that Hudgins had authorized, without school board approval, a company co-owned by Gwinup and two Allied Engineering employees to process $2.2 million in district energy rebates, keeping 30% of the proceeds. The audit also found Allied Engineering had overbilled the district by at least $499,573 for engineering work. Byrd said the losses stemmed from the Tulsa Board of Education giving Hudgins years of unilateral control and "rubber stamping" his recommendations without reviewing contracts. Drummond said his office is reviewing the full audit and that additional charges "are on the table."