On December 15, 2025, Alysa Dietz Gisser — a 56-year-old accountant and bookkeeper at The Odyssey School, a private nonprofit serving children with special needs and learning disabilities in Central Austin — was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion after an internal discovery at the school triggered a referral to IRS Criminal Investigation, which found she had embezzled over $1 million from the institution between 2018 and 2021. Gisser renamed the PayPal account tied to her personal consulting business to mimic the name of the school, then instructed parents to send tuition payments to that account; once the funds arrived, she transferred them into her personal bank accounts and spent the money on credit card balances, mortgage payments on her Leander home, and the installation of an in-ground swimming pool. To conceal the theft, she altered the school's internal accounting records to show the misdirected payments had been received. She underreported her income by $863,963.32 across the four-year period. Gisser pleaded guilty on January 13, 2026, and was sentenced on April 9, 2026, in the Western District of Texas to 33 months in federal prison, $1,318,684 in restitution, and a $1,049,012 money judgment. Board President Eric Hepburn said the discovery was a profound shock to a school community built entirely around trust and the specialized needs of its children.