Williams Stapleton now faces state, federal prosecutions

The federal indictment last week of Sheryl Williams Stapleton on 35 felony charges leaves in question a state district court case against her that is already more than two years old.

A federal grand jury indicted the former state House majority leader on felony charges that include multiple counts of mail fraud, money laundering, bribery and one count of conspiring to defraud the United States.

The new charges create uncertainty in the 30-month-old case in 2nd Judicial District Court because federal cases typically take precedence over state charges, said Stapleton’s attorney, Ahmad Assed.

“It’s a practical problem, logistically speaking, because the courts generally recognize the need for defendants to resolve their federal matters before state cases are resolved,” Assed said Monday.

Stapleton, a former Albuquerque Public Schools official, was indicted in state court in September 2021 on 26 felony and two misdemeanor counts for her alleged role in routing money meant for vocational education at APS to businesses and charities in which she had an interest.

Assed called it “unprecedented” for federal prosecutors to indict someone facing prosecution in a state district court based on a similar set of allegations.

Stapleton is now facing dual prosecutions by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico and the New Mexico Department of Justice, formerly the state Attorney General’s Office.

“Even though it may be permitted, it’s certainly very rare that both entities take a stab at essentially the same facts in the case,” Assed said.

“At the end of the day, you’re essentially almost trying the same case twice, with some variation,” he said.

The state Department of Justice plans to continue its prosecution of the state case, agency spokeswoman Lauren Rodriguez said.

“The recently filed federal indictment against Sheryl Williams Stapleton does not affect the pending criminal case in state district court,” she said.

A hearing in the state case is scheduled April 23 before Judge David Murphy.

The federal indictment also charges Stapleton’s co-defendant, who is not charged in state district court. Joseph Johnson, 72, of Chantilly, Virginia, is charged with 35 felony counts in the federal indictment. Johnson is identified as the owner of Robotics Management Learning Systems of Washington, D.C., and a “close personal friend” of Stapleton’s.

The indictment alleges that from July 2013 to June 2020, Stapleton used her position as director of APS’s career and technical education to direct APS funding to Robotics. The payments were intended to support the use of Robotic’s CyberQuest software in APS classrooms.

Stapleton reviewed and approved Robotics’ invoices and directed other APS employees under her supervision to approve those invoices, the indictment alleges.

APS then issued checks to Robotics and mailed them to a post office box in Albuquerque, the indictment says. At Johnson’s request, Stapleton personally retrieved the checks from the post office box and deposited them into the Robotics bank account, it said.

Stapleton allegedly used blank checks provided by Johnson to deposit about $1.15 million into companies and a nonprofit in which she or her family had an interest.

Stapleton and Johnson are scheduled for an initial appearance in the federal case on April 9 before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar in Albuquerque.

Efforts to reach Johnson this week were unsuccessful. No attorney representing Johnson was listed in the federal court record.

An Albuquerque Democrat, Stapleton was elected in 1994 to state House District 19, east of the University of New Mexico. She served as the majority floor leader from 2017 to 2021.

Stapleton resigned from the House two days after search warrants were served at her home on July 28, 2021.

She was fired on Aug. 31, 2021, from her $79,000-a-year job as APS’ coordinator and director of career and technical education.

Those resignations came after APS Superintendent Scott Elder asked then-Attorney General Hector Balderas to investigate Stapleton’s relationship with Robotics.

Stapleton’s attorneys have long been aware that federal investigators were looking into the case, Assed said.

“We knew all along, obviously, there was a federal investigation,” he said. “That wasn’t a secret.”

In October, Assed and Albuquerque attorney Ryan Villa told a state district court judge that they were pursuing a “global agreement” that could resolve both the state charges and “potential federal charges” against Stapleton.

Those plea negotiations have since broken down.

Stapleton’s attorney said that no plea negotiations are currently underway with either state or federal prosecutors.

“As of today, there are no pleas being discussed,” Assed said Monday. “I don’t anticipate that a plea will be forthcoming” in either case.

Any plea negotiations, he said, “probably will happen in the natural course of her case after the case is investigated and the parties have an opportunity to engage in conversation, which has not happened.”

The federal indictment centers on federal Perkins Act funding provided by the U.S. Department of Education to pay for vocational and technical education.

In New Mexico, Perkins funding is paid to the New Mexico Public Education Department, which then distributes the money to school districts statewide.

From 2013 to 2021, APS paid $3,251,550 to Robotics, the indictment says. Most of that — $2,518,550 — came from federal funds intended for career-technical education programs.

Johnson provided Stapleton with blank checks from the Robotics checking account, the indictment alleges. Stapleton wrote 233 checks “for her own benefit,” totaling about $1.15 million, it said.

Those payments included $479,960 to the Ujima Foundation, a nonprofit that Stapleton and Johnson operated and controlled jointly, the indictment alleges.

She also wrote checks totaling $313,123 to Taste of the Caribbean, an Albuquerque restaurant Stapleton and her family owned and operated, $286,772 to her personal consulting firm, S. Williams & Associates, and $72,649 to other parties for goods and services that benefited Stapleton, the indictment said.