Toronto man charged in $2.1M fraud on Windsor-Essex Catholic school board

A Toronto man accused of defrauding a local school board out of more than $2.1 million has been arrested and charged, Windsor police said Friday. 

Police began investigating in September after the report of fraud and "determined that a suspect had fraudulently impersonated a contractor hired to complete work for the organization and intercepted communication from that contractor to the school."

Investigators allege the individual provided new banking information to the board, thus intercepting payment intended for the contractor. 

In a statement, the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board confirmed it was the school board that had funds stolen. 

"Along with its legal counsel, the board is currently in the process of working through the courts and with various financial institutions, and is confident that it will recover substantially all of the funds that were taken," board spokesperson Stephen Fields said in a statement. 

The statement adds that the board's computer systems were not compromised at any point, but have said they will not be commenting further while the matter is before the courts. 

A suspect was identified and a province-wide warrant issued, police said, but the individual was found to have left the country in October. 

On Thursday, 36-year-old Tyler Nathanael Manning was arrested getting off a flight at Toronto's Pearson International Airport and transported to Windsor, police said.  

He has been charged with fraud over $5,000, forgery, two counts of impersonating and laundering the proceeds of crime, among other charges. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Windsor police's financial crimes team or Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous.