Updated Feb. 22, 2019, with an indictment in the case.

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted a Florida man who defrauded a Tarrant County school district out of almost $2 million by posing as an employee at a Fort Worth construction company, authorities say.

Donald Howard Conkright (Monroe County Sheriff's Office)

Donald Howard Conkright, 61, of Big Pine Key faces two counts of wire fraud. Conkright was arrested in December in Florida before being extradited to Texas.

"Unfortunately, these sorts of spear-phishing email attacks have become all-too-common — and perpetrators are targeting not just individuals, but corporations and public institutions as well," U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox said in a news release. "We cannot allow bad actors to divert precious school resources away from educating our children."

In late October, Crowley ISD received an email purporting to be from Steele & Freeman Inc., a construction company building an elementary school and career technology center in the district, according to a federal criminal complaint.

The email said that the company's banking information had changed and that future payments should be routed to an IberiaBank account in Florida. The district wired $1 as a test, and a followup email from the same account confirmed the transaction.

On Nov. 13, Crowley ISD wired $522,588.98 to the account, the complaint says. The following day, it sent $1,473,126.54.

The district became aware that the payments hadn't reached the actual construction firm on Nov. 20, Crowley ISD said in a statement.

Authorities later determined that Conkright — who had never worked for Steele & Freeman — opened the bank account with a $1,000 deposit on Oct. 15, according to the complaint. On Nov. 13, he made debit card purchases, wrote checks and withdrew cash for a total of more than $50,000.

The next day, after the $1.4 million payment was wired, Conkright moved more than $1.6 million out of the account, including a transfer of $750,000 to an IberiaBank savings account he controlled, the complaint says. Bank employees later told investigators that Conkright said the money was from his girlfriend's inheritance.

He proceeded to take nearly $300,000 more out of the account over the next several days, authorities say.

Authorities say Donald Conkright bought a $128,000 BMW and two Rolex watches. (BMW, Rolex)

Conkright immediately spent tens of thousands of dollars on luxury items, according to investigators who combed through his financial records.

On Nov. 14, he bought a 2018 BMW M3 at a Miami dealership for $128,000, the complaint says. The next day, he reportedly spent $71,000 on a pair of Rolex watches.

Conkright faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each wire fraud charge.

The district published a statement in December thanking investigators for taking steps that led to Conkright's arrest.

"I want to assure our community that Crowley ISD remains financially strong and is working to prevent future fraud schemes by reviewing our systems and putting additional safeguards in place," Superintendent Mike McFarland said in the statement.

Staff writer Sarah Sarder contributed to this report.