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Man who defrauded Bernalillo County of over $447k sentenced to probation
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A man who defrauded Bernalillo County’s accounts payable department in 2019 was sentenced to three years of probation this week.
Oscar Kipikirui Ngeno, who was sentenced Tuesday in federal court by U.S. District Judge Matthew Garcia, will also have to pay $15,000 back to the county, according to court documents.
Ngeno was part of a scheme that targeted Bernalillo County. After receiving an email from someone thought to be a real vendor, the county in 2019 paid out $447,372 over two months to a bank account associated with Ngeno.
In November 2019, Ngeno used around $13,000 of money he had stolen from the county to pay off a personal vehicle loan, according to court documents.
He pleaded guilty to money laundering on Nov. 15.
In 2019, the actual vendor reached out to the county about its outstanding balance. A week afterward, another $110,223 was paid out to Ngeno’s account, according to Journal archives.
The county discovered on Dec. 5, 2019, that the emails from “Carlos Boyd” with information technology equipment were the ones associated with Ngeno. The county’s total net loss was some $216,000.
The county’s bank was able to recover some $129,094 of the funds and insurance covered another $100,000, but it wasn’t fully reimbursed because the loss “was caused by action that Insured (county) was duped into taking,” according to Journal archives.
While Ngeno is a New York state resident, his case was handled in U.S. District Court in New Mexico. The Albuquerque FBI division was assisted by the Buffalo and Richmond field offices, as well as the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and Rochester Resident Agency.
