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Friday, July 17, 2009
Items Seized From Accused Embezzler
By Charles D. Brunt
Journal Staff Writer
Investigators with the Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Department confiscated computers, bank statements and financial documents while serving a search warrant Tuesday at the Abiquiu homes of a woman suspected of embezzling nearly $300,000 from the Jemez Mountain School District, according to court documents.
The items, taken from the home of the district's former business manager, Kathy J. Borrego, 50, were obtained under a search warrant issued by 1st Judicial District Judge Michael Vigil.
Investigators also seized bank statements, documents, casino "player" cards, "miscellaneous bongs" and a plastic bag containing marijuana from an adjacent residence where Borrego's daughter, Rosana Lopez, 24, lives.
Court documents say both properties, located on U.S. Highway 84, are owned by Borrego and Jerry P. Archuleta.
The warrants state that Borrego transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars among various bank accounts, including accounts she held jointly with Lopez and Archuleta, and that evidence of those transfers were likely to be found in documents and computers at the residences.
Neither Borrego, Lopez nor Archuleta have been criminally charged.
Borrego, who had worked at the district for just over 10 years until being fired June 18, is under investigation by the Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Department for possible felony embezzlement and forgery, according to court documents.
Earlier this month, state Auditor Hector Balderas said an ongoing special audit — triggered in June when school superintendent Adan Delgado discovered discrepancies with district finances — could reveal an ever higher loss to the rural, 375-student school district.
"Based on the procedures we performed, it appears that (district business manager) Kathy Borrego embezzled $292,300.06 out of these bank accounts," between July 1, 2008, and May 31, 2009, Balderas said in a June 22 letter to Delgado.
Because a preliminary state audit examined only two of the school district's 11 financial accounts, Balderas said the total amount that was embezzled is likely to increase.
Balderas spokeswoman Caroline Buerkle said Wednesday the special audit should be finished this week or early next week.
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