Austin ISD executive charged with tampering with government records
AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin Independent School District executive was arrested Wednesday and accused of “intentionally manipulating” records related to a suspected theft of thousands of dollars worth of district gift cards, according to court records.
Amie Ortiz, 40, AISD’s executive director of talent strategy, is accused of deleting data police requested – an accusation her attorney pushed back on when reached for comment.
“We are disappointed with the investigation conducted by the AISD Police Department. Ms. Ortiz had no idea she was a target of the investigation until very recently,” her attorney Brian Roark told KXAN in a statement.
Detectives said, last September, Ortiz reported more than $65,000 worth of gift cards owned by the school district were believed to be missing. She also reported issues with misuse of the cards and lack of documentation.
The gift cards were purchased and issued through AISD’s insurance carrier as a part of the district’s employee wellness program, according to district officials and an affidavit.
The affidavit also states AISD police detectives say Ortiz established a gift card tracking system, documenting the gift card vendor, amount, quantity, who the card was being released to, reason for releasing the card and date of release. Ortiz’s attorney told KXAN his client used Google Sheets as the tracking system. Detectives said multiple people could access the system, including Ortiz, other executives and their assistants.
The log included an inventory from a January 2024 bulk order of $135,000 worth of gift cards and inventory from another set of gift cards found in a storage cabinet over the summer totaling $36,250, according to the affidavit.
Detectives alleged, the day after they responded to the report of theft, Ortiz deleted a portion of the gift card log totaling more than $36,250 and changed the initials next to several entries.
Detectives did not state any motive when alleging Ortiz deleted part of the log, but Ortiz’s attorney said his client believed detectives wanted her to provide an accurate account of the January 2024 batch of gift cards.
Her attorney said Ortiz was under the impression that the found cards were not part of that batch and “had already been given to campuses for staff wellness” over the summer.
Ortiz’s attorney said, at some point, the safe containing the gift cards was placed in a different office, and Ortiz changed the initials to show that the inventory entries were made when the safe was in another person’s office.
“Every action she took, statement made, and document she provided was accurate and true to the extent of her knowledge and understanding at that time. She never intentionally provided any false information,” Roark said.
Ortiz, who has spent more than 17 years with the district as a teacher and district executive, was placed on administrative leave on Wednesday. She is charged with tampering with a government record.
“Ms. Ortiz is a career educator and administrator who was at the top of her field prior to this false allegation,” Roark said in his statement. “[She] will eventually be exonerated, and it is unfortunate that her life had to be upended in the meantime.”
This is the third employee criminally charged over the district’s gift cards and wellness program. KXAN investigators found two former district executives were indicted in 2024 for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars worth of gift cards between 2022 and 2023. AISD officials said Ortiz’s arrest is unrelated to the charges the two former employees are facing.
AISD said it is no longer utilizing gift cards as a part of the district’s wellness program. The district would not comment on how many of the district’s gift cards are still unaccounted.
But district officials said some of the gift card batch worth $36,250 was distributed during a leadership institute meeting in 2025, some were recovered and canceled and others are still outstanding.
