$3.4 Million School Embezzlement Scheme

[mzteris]

The state will take over Jemez Mountain School District’s finances after a special audit revealed that $3.3 million was embezzled from the district over several years, Public Education Secretary Veronica Garcia announced this morning.

“The findings released in the State Auditor’s report leave me no recourse but to suspend the Board of Education of Jemez Mountain Public Schools from acting as the Board of Finance effective immediately,” Garcia said in a news release.

A special audit by the State Auditor’s Office found that 538 checks were taken from the school district’s check stocks from Jan. 1, 2002 through June 30 of this year, according to an executive summary of the special audit. Authorized signatures were forged and 535 checks were cashed or deposited into personal accounts. Here is the executive summary of the special audit.

. . . Jemez Mountain is one of the state’s smaller school districts. It operates five schools — two elementary schools, one middle school, one high school and one charter school — and had an enrollment of only 373 students in fiscal 2008-09, according to state and district documents.

The state Public Education Department’s takeover of a school district’s finances is rare, but it did it three years ago with the West Las Vegas school district in 2006.

That takeover was due to actions by that district’s former bilingual coordinator Roberta Vigil, who spent nearly $10,000 on an invitation-only bash in April 2006. The party, which featured music by Al Hurricane and was called a “workshop” on requisition forms, was paid for through a special appropriation passed by the Legislature with the help of Vigil’s husband, state Rep. Richard Vigil, D-Ribera.

A jury this year convicted Roberta Vigil of fraud over $2,500 and conspiracy to commit fraud over $2,500.

http://newmexicoindependent.com/34078/state-will-take-over-finances-of-jemez-mountain-school-district

[Rex]

1. Wow! How did they amass so much money!? Wealthy district?

I bet the locals feel betrayed.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Ask mzteris for link to more of the same if interested

[mzteris]

3. unfortunately, there is a lot of fraud and mismanagement

out there. In every business. In every state. .. .

My point is, I'm really really tired of the "cherry-picking" by some to post "bad acts" committed by a few to denigrate a whole.

[Hannah Bell]

4. Clue: 373 students, 1/5 of its schools = charter schools.

Jemez Mountain is one of the state’s smaller school districts.

It operates five schools — two elementary schools, one middle school, one high school and one charter school — and had an enrollment of only 373 students in fiscal 2008-09, according to state and district documents.

bulk of money embezzled from capital projects fund.

business manager found dead:

http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/abqnewseeker-mainmenu-39/21107-breaking-former-jemez-mountain-school-district-official-found-dead.html


imo, you don't embezzle 3.5 million from five schools without help.

http://www.riograndesun.com/articles/2010/04/29/news/doc4bd857709341f275946301.txt

the reason for land grant payments would be?

i'd guess some real estate finagling r/t the charter set-up.

http://abiquiuland.com/about-abiquiu/

[ljm2002]

5. I'll bet you're right...

...on both counts:

"imo, you don't embezzle 3.5 million from five schools without help."

and

"the reason for land grant payments would be?

i'd guess some real estate finagling r/t the charter set-up." -- that was my first thought too.

[Hannah Bell]

6. thanks for the vote. one problem charters have that traditional schools don't have is the real

estate/rent angle.

school construction can be a corruption source in traditional public schools, but real estate transactions & rents, not so much.

charter have all of them.

[mzteris]

7. google is your friend - Nope, sorry - No charter problem, here...

JIMEZ MOUNTAIN is a school district - there is "one" charter school contained therein. It was a member of the SCHOOL BOARD, nothing to do with the charter. :sigh:

Borrego allegedly took the nearly $3.4 million from 10 district accounts between Jan. 8, 2002, and June 30, 2009. Now Borrego may face a long list of criminal charges.

The money she allegedly stole is equal to about $9,058.18 per student, based on the district’s 373 students enrolled last year.

“This is the largest case my office has ever seen in terms of a school embezzlement, and also in terms of how important this is to the community and to the state,” Balderas said

Allegedly, Borrego stole 538 blank checks from the district, issuing 535 of them to herself or other recipients. She issued them without authorized signatures, the district's report states, and they were cashed or deposited into personal bank accounts.


The probe revealed the following embezzled checks and missing money:<1>

District bank accounts ........ Number of checks ........ Amount missing
Operational Fund...................74 checks.............$446,178.36
Payroll Account...................104 checks.............$621,128.59
Transportation Fund................17 checks.............$104,951.25
Teacherage Fund ..................16 checks..............$74,872.99
Cafeteria Fund ....................5 checks..............$25,916.79
Federal Projects...................46 checks..............$281,272.03
SB-9..............................210 checks........... $1,345,389.59
Bond Fund..........................41 checks............. $285,408.31
Debt Service.......................24 checks............. $187,433.36
Activity Fund.......................1 checks............... $6,150.00



Is "hannah" making this a charter thing? Wow. "She" can make anything into a charter-bash, huh? Unreal...

(psssssssssssssst - you might want to check who you're cheerleading for and please be sure to check their sources (if any), too.)

[Rex]

8. Amazing! Thanks.

I hope this doesn't mean more draconian acts against public education, because of this. I wonder how many on that School Board were also members of the local Chamber of Commerce? Or perhaps on the city council?

[mzteris]

9. Why would this incident "affect public education" as a whole?

except to maybe make people more aware of the issues and be more careful. More audits. More background checks. More checks and balances... Though that should already be done. and not just for schools, but for every business.

There have ALWAYS been crooks who embezzle money and steal supplies - probably in just about every school system in America at one time or another over the past two hundred years.

It's not the SCHOOL system. It's the person. (and it may be the way they systems have structured their mode of operation...) There really is no reason that this woman got away with so much and for so long. A whole lot of negligence going on, imo...

My whole point here is the biased "charter bashing" that goes on and on and on blah blah blah on DU. Anytime ANY incident occurs, it's trumpeted and heralded as a "SIGN" that ALL CHARTERS ARE IMMORAL and must go. Even if I were "anti-charter" - the method of attack is just annoying it's so illogical and blatantly biased.

[Hannah Bell]

11. one out of the five schools (20%) in the district = charter.

State Auditor Hector Balderas announced today that the 2009 Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) financial audit performed by Moss Adams contained 378 findings, the vast majority of which exhibit poor financial management and failure to adhere to internal controls in many of the District’s charter schools.

“In these difficult economic times, it’s imperative that school districts manage funds responsibly and I will continue to highlight areas of concern,” Balderas said. “My office will continue to partner with APS and the District’s charter schools to strengthen their fiscal accountability.”

Of the 378 findings, over 120 were identified in previous years but had not been corrected. Balderas called upon the governing bodies of APS and those charter schools identified by the audit to reduce risks to public school funds and work together to address the findings.

Many of the District’s charter schools had the most findings, including Christine Duncan, The Learning Community, Academia de Lengua y Cultura, La Academia de Esperanza, La Resolana Leadership Academy, Corrales International and Albuquerque Talent Development. The findings included non-approved journal entries and overall issues relating to cash controls.

http://wordcab.blogspot.com/2010/02/aps-charter-school-audit-reveals.html

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hannah Bell]

13. yes, i think it's funny. you just put people on ignore when they post inconvenient facts, such as:

one out of the five schools in that district = a charter, i.e. 20% of the schools in the district = charter.

traditional public schools don't usually do real estate deals. but charters, even at the local level, do.

thus the capital projects & land grant transactions, & the connections to other possible players, & the death of the supposed embezzler = interesting.

as are the checks issued, not to the supposed embezzler, but to "others"

"issuing 535 of them to herself or other recipients."

she was embezzling -- for who?

[Dappleganger]

14. You know

your obvious anti-public school rantings are really getting old.

[mzteris]

15. You know, I am NOT "anti-public school"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dammit!

Why cant you guys get that through your biased heads?

I support ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS! You're the one who wants to close FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS that offer appropriate educational opportunities for children.

The ONLY GD reason I put this up is due to the NAUSEATING BS that is CONSTANTY being posted against charters. And if they want to BASH charters, then, guess what - I'm going to put up TEN stories of the same transgressions in traditionals.

Not because I don't like and support trads, but because I am sick and tired of the biased crap that is posted and the attempt to smear ALL Charter pubic schools because some dipwad somewhere did something BAD one time.

What about this do you not understand, eh?

I AM who I say I am.... can some of the bashers on here say the same?

[Hannah Bell]

16. charters are the brainchild of finance capital, & the purpose is to destroy free,

locally managed, public schools.

and no offense, but you're quite the cherry-picker yourself.

[Hannah Bell]

10. ONE OUT OF FIVE TOTAL SCHOOLS = 20%. As I said in my post, ms. tetris.

and SB-9, where most of the money came from = a capital projects fund.

and a lot of the checks went to abiquiu land grant.