Trial for former House majority leader reset for August

A federal judge this week ordered the trial for Sheryl Williams Stapleton postponed until August, nearly five years after criminal allegations led to her resignation as state House majority leader.

In his order, U.S. District Judge James O. Browning raised the possibility that the delay could give both Stapleton and her co-defendant an opportunity to negotiate a plea deal with prosecutors.

Browning ordered the continuance on Tuesday, less than four weeks before Stapleton and her co-defendant were scheduled to begin trial in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque. He set Aug. 5 as the new trial date.

A federal grand jury in 2024 indicted Stapleton, 68, a former Albuquerque Public Schools official and state lawmaker, and her co-defendant, Joseph Johnson, 74, each on 35 federal criminal counts, including multiple counts of mail fraud, money laundering and bribery.

In a separate state case, Stapleton faces 23 felony charges and three misdemeanors in 2nd Judicial District Court, including racketeering, money laundering, fraud and engaging in an official act for personal financial gain.

The state case is set for trial Oct. 5 before Judge David Murphy. Johnson is not a defendant in that case.

In the federal case, attorneys for both Stapleton and Johnson argued in a joint motion that they needed more time to prepare a joint defense and review a vast amount of evidence in the complex case, Browning wrote in his order.

"Further, both defendants will have additional time to engage in plea negotiations independently and as part of a global plea resolution and prepare for trial if necessary," Browning wrote.

Stapleton's attorney, Ryan Villa, said Thursday that his client was not engaged in plea negotiations "at this time."

"We are not actively negotiating," Villa said. "Of course, in every case, (a plea deal) is always a possibility at any time, but nothing is ongoing right now."

The charges stem from an APS contract with Robotics Management Learning Systems LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based company owned by Johnson, that provided software and training for vocational students at a cost of more than $5 million from 2013 through June 2020. Stapleton and Johnson each have pleaded not guilty and deny the charges.

Prosecutors allege that Stapleton, as director of the federally funded Perkins Project, oversaw the contract and diverted more than $950,000 from the contract into personal and business accounts that included her personal consulting firm and a family restaurant.

Stapleton used blank checks from Robotics to write some 233 checks totaling about $1.15 million for her own benefit, or 35% of the funds APS paid to Robotics, prosecutors allege.

Villa said Thursday that services obtained from Johnson's company passed through APS' procurement department "properly in the normal fashion" and that Stapleton "was not a part of that process."

The federal indictment filed in March 2024 charged Stapleton and Johnson each with multiple financial crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and multiple counts of fraud, money laundering and bribery involving programs that received federal funds. They are set to be tried together.