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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Silver City-Area Residents Accused of Defrauding CYFD


Associated Press
      SILVER CITY — A former employee of the state Children, Youth and Families Department and several other Silver City-area residents have been accused of defrauding the state of more than half a million dollars.
    Andrea Munoz, 34, allegedly received kickbacks from people who were fraudulently reimbursed for child care services they never provided. The alleged scheme involved the department's Child Care Program, which reimburses low-income parents for baby-sitting services.
    Court documents allege 16 people admitted receiving checks from CYFD, cashing them and splitting the proceeds with Munoz between 2001 and 2006.
    Romaine Serna, a spokeswoman for CYFD, said $574,000 was allegedly taken.
    Serna said the scale of the alleged fraud is the largest the agency has encountered.
    "As a result, we've made several improvements to our client data system to make sure this can never happen again," she said.
    Munoz, who worked in the agency's Silver City office, is charged with 246 counts of paying or receiving public money for services not rendered, 232 counts of conspiracy to commit paying or receiving public money for services not rendered and 246 counts of making or permitting a false public voucher.
    District Attorney Mary Lynne Newell and prosecuting attorney Francesca Estevez would not comment.
    Six others have been charged in the case. Raquel Dominguez, 35; Mike Quintana, 44; Donald Magdaleno, 43; Diane Magdaleno, 37; Manuel Baeza, 35; and Victoria Gomez, 32, are charged with conspiracy and multiple counts of receiving public money for services not rendered.
    They are to be arraigned in state district court later this month.
    Serna said the department became aware of the alleged misappropriation of funds last August when the district attorney's office notified it. She said Munoz left the department late last fall.

Copyright ©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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