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Santa Fe County’s deputy treasurer Oliver Garcia is on leave pending investigation into allegations that he used photocopied county vouchers to get free car washes for himself and his family.
The county did the right thing when it sent Garcia home while it conducts an internal investigation.
But that’s about the only right thing that has been done, at least so far.
Let’s consider the nature of Garcia’s alleged offense. He’s supposed to have used photocopied versions of vouchers the department had paid a local car wash for — essentially coupons allowing department workers to take county vehicles in for a scrub in a simple and efficient way.
According to charges against him, Garcia tried to pass the copies off as the real thing so he could clean his own and a family member’s cars. Car wash bookkeepers noticed the company seemed to have given the county more car washes than had been paid for, and notified police.
Accused of the fraud, Garcia first told police he didn’t know anything about it, next blamed everything on a vague “Mexican male” who supposedly sold his daughter the fake vouchers. He said it was mere coincidence that vouchers appeared to be copies of ones purchased by the treasurer’s office.
The police say he added that he knew it was wrong to use false vouchers but “figured he couldn’t turn it down.”
After police showed up at his office to investigate, Garcia told his boss, Santa Fe County Treasurer Victor Montoya, that he “didn’t do anything wrong.” Montoya apparently still believes that, even though Garcia has officially been charged with misdemeanor fraud by the police.
Finally, let’s note, the value of each fake voucher is $17. That’s not much, and it doesn’t add up to much more, even though the vouchers were used to get free car washes for the cars of Garcia and his daughter on multiple occasions, according to the car wash operator.
Of course, Garcia is innocent until proven guilty. His daughter is not charged, but Garcia himself has made her a key part of the case, thanks to his version of how the vouchers came into the family’s possession.
Garcia’s boss, the county treasurer apparently thinks everything’s fine, dismissing the charges against his deputy as “something to do with politics.”
Montoya and Garcia are the top-paid county officials responsible for looking after millions of dollars worth of taxpayers’ money, including property tax payments. And Garcia is running for election to Montoya’s job.
Under the circumstances, taxpayers might expect a county treasurer to do the right thing and fire any employee accused of helping himself to even a little bit of their money. That expectation might increase if the employee in question served at will and was on the ballot to take over as treasurer the next year.
As for Garcia, he needs to do a right thing here, too. He should withdraw from county treasurer’s race. Who wants a person who even considers stealing $17 a few times via free car washes in charge of public finances?
