HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — It’s been almost two years since the FBI raided the Houston ISD administration building as part of a multi-year investigation.
On Feb. 27, 2020, FBI agents served search warrants on the district’s Hattie Mae White Building, the northwest Harris County home of former chief operating officer Brian Busby, and the home of Anthony Hutchison, the owner of Southwest Wholesale who was contacted to do landscaping for the district.
Court documents said agents seized $90,000 from Busby that day and about $100,000 from Hutchison.
Since then, the men have been arrested and charged in federal court for orchestrating a kickback scheme that defrauded the district of $7 million over seven years. Court documents claim Busby deposited $2.6 million into the bank from 2016 to 2020 that did not include his salary.
District officials told us this week that they would not comment further on the topic.
Busby was immediately put on paid home duty. In May of 2020, he was sent a memo directing him not to speak to any other HISD employees. His contract with the district was not renewed for the 2020-2021 school year. The longtime district employee’s last day was Aug. 31, 2020, which was six months after the raid.
The former COO’s wife also worked for HISD as a school support officer making $140,000 annually, according to court documents.
She resigned from the district a year and a half after her home was raided on Aug. 31, 2021, according to a letter obtained by, citing personal reasons.
The FBI announced in a press release on Dec. 16, the day Busby and Hutchison were arrested, that five others were arrested and charged in this alleged kickback scheme. They accepted plea agreements in October.
Former HISD Board of Education president Rhonda Skillern-Jones admitted to taking more than $10,000 in bribe payments from Hutchison, according to the plea filed in her case.
At the time the news broke, she was serving on the Houston Community College Board and worked for Precinct 1 County Commissioner Rodney Ellis. Both said they were surprised by the news. She resigned from the board and was terminated by the county.
The other four worked in various maintenance and facility roles at HISD.
Derrick Sanders was with the district for seven years. He left in September of 2020. Alfred Hoskins was with HISD for 34 years and left in October of 2021. Gerron Hall worked for the district for 25 years and also left in October of 2021. Luis Tovar was with HISD for 16 years. He was still working there on the day the FBI announced the plea agreements. He was terminated on Dec. 17.
Still, invoices show that HISD paid Hutchison’s company nearly $500,000 in the four months between the FBI raid and the termination of the contract.
