Crime & Law
Ex-Urban Prep CEO Tim King Accused of Embezzling $100K From Charter School Network
Urban Prep Englewood campus (artistmac / Flickr)
Tim King, the former leader of the Urban Prep charter schools who resigned in 2022 amid sexual misconduct allegations, now faces federal charges alleging he embezzled more than $100,000 in school funding.
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged King, 59, in a three-count indictment accusing him of misusing Urban Prep funds to cover his own personal credit card expenses and then attempting to cover up that theft through falsified documents.
In all, King is accused of stealing $103,833 according to the indictment. He now faces two counts of federal program theft and one count of obstruction of justice.
According to the feds, King first used approximately $54,000 from an Urban Prep-affiliated Chase bank account to pay for his own personal credit expenses between May 1 and December 31, 2021.
The following year, he allegedly used another $49,000 from that account to once again cover his own expenses, the indictment alleges.
After receiving a federal grand jury subpoena and learning of the feds’ criminal investigation in 2022, King allegedly deleted online records of three purported cash donations he had made to Urban Prep in an attempt to conceal the embezzlement, the indictment states.
Urban Prep Academies, which runs a pair of all-Black, all-male schools in Chicago’s Englewood and Bronzeville neighborhoods, has struggled to maintain its charter in the years following King’s departure.
He left in 2022 after the Chicago Board of Education inspector general found he had “an inappropriate relationship” with a 16-year-old UPA student. King has denied those allegations.
The following year, Chicago’s Board of Education voted to take over those campuses following allegations of financial mismanagement. But last year, the board approved a new two-year charter renewal to keep the two campuses open at least through the end of the 2026-27 school year.
King’s arraignment has not yet been scheduled. He faces up to 10 years in prison on each theft charge and up to 20 years on the obstruction count.
