Former Grant-Goodland supt. sentenced to 9 years for embezzling over $1M in school funds

The former superintendent of the now-shut down Grant Goodland Public Schools in Choctaw County is headed to federal prison.

Buck Hammers, 55, was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay back over $1,000,000 in restitution this week in U.S. District Court.

Federal prosecutors say Hammers wrote fake checks to embezzle federal funds from the district over a six year period from 2010-2016.

Hammers' deputy treasurer, Pam Keeling, was also named in the audit.

She committed suicide the day after she and Hammers were suspended in 2016.

Later that year the state annexed Grant-Goodland into Hugo Public Schools.