Funds recovery to be shy of $100K

FARMINGTON — The Farmington Convention and Visitors Bureau may recover less than $100,000 of the roughly $500,000 that Debbie Dusenbery embezzled.

Richard Gerding, a Farmington-based attorney representing the bureau, presented the City Council with an update on what has been done to recover the funds.

After attorney’s fees, expenses and payments to other creditors of Dusenbery’s estate, the net assets delivered to the bureau could be as low as $60,000, he said.

Dusenbery, 41, was suspended as the visitors bureau’s executive director in mid-January 2012 after allegations that she had embezzled taxpayer funds. She committed suicide in the Arizona desert about four weeks later.

The Farmington Convention and Visitors Bureau is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1984 to promote Farmington and the surrounding area for recreation, industrial and historic interest.

The bureau is funded by lodger’s taxes — a tax imposed on the use of hotels, motels and other lodging through a contract with the city.

The bureau has been filing claims through Gerding and suing for Dusenbery’s assets, which appear to be limited.

There is an undisclosed amount of money remaining in Dusenbery’s checking account, savings account, a $100,000 insurance policy, about $35,000 remaining in the value of her home, about $20,000 from the sale of her Jeep and a yet-to-be-sold trailer with a lien on it, Gerding said.

Previous estimates had put the total amount of embezzled funds at around $500,000. That amount now appears to be closer to $488,000, Gerding said.
— This article appeared on page B01 of the Albuquerque Journal