Deming Public Schools make significant improvements in audit reports

Even after two years, the loss of $145,000 still resonates today for Deming Public Schools.

The board of education had Alan “Aj” Bowers, an audit partner for Carr Riggs and Ingram audit firm, share highlights from the fiscal year 2018 audit report during a regular session on Thursday. The action item presentation didn’t go without acknowledging current improvements in retrospect to the financial bruise left under former DPS Superintendent Dan Lere's administration.

"One of the things that I really wanted to point out was the changes from 2017 to 2018," Bowers said. "So, this is a testament to the hard work of the district, the finance team, the dedication of the board to allow the resources that they need to be able to clean up some of the challenges that the district has had year over year.

"When I look at the district highlights, financial statement material weakness findings decreased from three to zero from year over year. Not only in the number of findings, but when you talk about severity, the term material weakness under accounting standards is a finding that basically says if something were to go wrong here, it can materially affect the operations of the district, it can affect the opinions – so, it merits the attention of the governing body. So, that's a good thing to go from three to zero. You should be proud of that.

"The next level is significant deficiencies went from two to one. The definition of a significant deficiency is it does not rise to level of material weakness yet still merits the attention of the governing body. So, not only did you get rid of material weaknesses, but the significant deficiencies as well.

"Federal Award findings – we did increase from two to four so, we audited different programs, we looked at different things every year so, that is something to pay attention to.

"And the New Mexico Audit Rule – they require to report everything and they went from 11 to five.

"So, you cleaned up a lot of findings, you cleaned up the severity of the findings, so I think the district should be proud of the work that they've done.

"The charter school (Cesar Chavez Charter High School) had significant deficiencies decrease from one to zero and then the state audit rule, they went to five to four."

“I think you that have accomplished a lot – still some work to do, but you guys are on the right track,” Bowers said to the board.

"For one person who was on the board when we had to do the audit a couple of years ago, it was... ehh,  I don’t want to even go there," DPS Board President Bayne Anderson said. "This has so much improved from what we had a few years ago,”

Approximately two years ago, a special audit prepared by the Jaramillo Accounting Group for the State Auditor’s office, presented details of possible fraud and embezzlement by Beatrice Armendariz, a former Deming High School head secretary.

According to the special audit, Armendariz has allegedly used a district p-card for personal gain from July 2012 through June of 2016. The executive summary mentioned that former Superintendent Dan Lere reported $20,000 in possibly embezzled funds to the Deming Police Department in August of 2016. But the state auditor's office had subsequently determined as much as $145,000 may have been stolen.

Armendariz reportedly left her position for another job in August of 2016.

No court cases have been filed. The Deming Headlight has made several unsuccessful attempts to reach Sixth Judicial District Prosecutor Francesca Estevez for any updates on actions the DA's office may take.

Back in August, DPS received a check for $130,000 from the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority to help account for the $145,000 that was allegedly stolen.

The district did not set motion to approve the presentation in order to allow board members to revise the final audit report.

Ex-cheer gym staff member charged with embezzlement

The Front Royal Police Department has arrested a person formerly affiliated with Virginia Revolution Athletics, a Front Royal cheer gym, accusing her of embezzling money from the cheer gym’s business account.

Police Sgt. Jason Winner said that Donna Rogers, 59, of Front Royal, transferred $3,200 from the United Bank account of the cheer gym into her own personal United Bank account on Sept. 18 without having the authorization to do so.

“Donna was affiliated with the business, with Virginia Revolution Athletics, and both bank accounts were with United Bank here in the Town of Front Royal,” Winner said. “But again, she was not authorized to transfer that money from the business account to her personal bank account.”

When reached for comment, Rogers, who was arrested Feb. 15, hung up the phone.

According to an affidavit for a subpoena of bank records, Trisha Hart, the owner of Virginia Revolution Athletics, notified the police department on Oct. 18 that Rogers embezzled $13,700 over five bank transfers between July and September of 2018. Since then, Hart has sued Rogers in five separate civil lawsuits.

In a news release, Hart’s attorney, Phillip Griffin II, stated that Rogers “has been volunteering with” Virginia Revolution Athletics and Hart and Sole Shoe Company, both of which Hart owns, and has been “interfering with client contracts, usurping her local practice area and withholding various equipment, uniforms and shoes.”

But while police have inspected at least five bank transfers from Virginia Revolution Athletics into Rogers’ bank account, Rogers has only been charged with the $3,200 Sept. 18 bank transfer.

Rogers has a prior record of some financial crimes dating back to 1985, according to court records. Court records show she was charged in 1985 in Oklahoma with issuing bogus checks, and in 2007 in West Virginia of involvement in felony fraud schemes.

In addition, Rogers had a record of a 1988 embezzlement charge in Virginia, the court records show.

In a phone interview, Hart, who described Rogers as a former staff member for the cheer gym, said that she was aware of the 1988 case before Rogers began working at the gym.

“We did know of her 1988 charges, but that was 20 years ago,” Hart said. “Who would’ve thought she would do it again?”

Hart stated in an email that Rogers’s alleged embezzlement has had a significant impact on Virginia Revolution Athletics.

“The lost revenue has had significant consequences to our organization,” Hart stated. “It has impacted the local community greatly.”

Man extradited from Spain faces charges in Santa Ana charter school embezzlement case

More than a decade ago, an audit uncovered that the executive director of a Santa Ana charter school had funneled millions in state funds to several businesses he owned.

After being extradited from Spain, Emilio Vazquez arrived in Orange County recently to face decade-old felony charges that include misappropriation of public funds, forgery and grand theft, the Orange County district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

Vazquez served as the executive director of Albor Charter School from 2002 to 2006. Allegations of questionable spending, fiscal mismanagement and conflicts of interest led the Santa Ana Unified School District to revoke Albor’s charter in 2005.

Although a legal battle allowed the school to stay open for the next school year, Vazquez closed Albor in March 2006 without notice to students or staff.

Because Albor failed to perform financial accounting that listed liabilities and assets, and because of concern about potential fraud and misappropriation of funds, the county Department of Education called in a team to perform an audit.

A 118-page report found that Vazquez had funneled millions in state funds to businesses controlled by Vazquez, his wife and their associates. It is unclear how the money was spent.

The audit findings were turned over to the district attorney’s office and charges were brought in March 2009. That same month, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Vazquez.

Later that year, authorities found Vazquez in Spain and the Department of Justice submitted a request for his extradition. The extradition was approved in April 2010, but while Vazquez was released on bail, he fled to China and was not surrendered to the U.S., according to the district attorney’s office.

This year, Vazquez was deported from China back to Spain and surrendered to U.S. marshals. He arrived in Orange County on Feb. 8. He is in custody on $3.12-million bail and must prove the money came from a legal source before posting bail.

City All-Star Football Game will be played despite embezzlement scandal, attorney says

On Friday, the Inquirer reported that West Catholic football coach Brian Fluck was no longer president of the Philadelphia City All-Star Football Game’s four-member executive committee, after questions arose about missing committee funds. Since then, coaches and players around the city have grown concerned about the game’s status. In previous seasons, the 100-player roster was chosen in mid-February.

“The game is crucial,” Sytsma, who just completed his second season as Frankford’s coach, said Wednesday night. “It’s the fabric of high school football in Philly over the last 44 years. Can’t lose it. It’s gotta be played.”

The game, played last year at Northeast High on May 19, “will proceed as scheduled,” said Fortunato N. Perri Jr., a lawyer representing the game’s executive board. Details were not provided.

In a statement Wednesday, Perri wrote that “the Executive Board is committed to continuing the opportunity for future players for decades to come.”

The statement also alleged that Fluck, who has been West Catholic’s coach since 1999 and is a 1988 graduate of the school, embezzled and misappropriated funds while president, a title he held for 10 years. West Catholic has placed him on administrative leave.

Several members of the game’s larger 16-person board (now minus Fluck) have said that at least $50,000 in committee funds are believed to be unaccounted for. Fluck (pronounced “Fluke”) says he “stepped down” from the board. The board says he was “relieved of his duties.”

Fluck has declined further comment multiple times. In a statement, his attorney, Richard F. Klineburger III, wrote that Fluck would “continue to cooperate with West Catholic, the Archdiocese as well as the Philadelphia All Star Game Board to properly clear his good name.”

Athletes and their families have provided paperwork concerning missing or delayed scholarship money awarded by the committee that ranged from $500 to more than $1,000 from 2010 to 2018.

Klineburger said that, to his knowledge, all monies were paid to “every student who properly completed all of the documentation required.”

Perri, the executive board’s lawyer, wrote that all options to recover the “stolen funds,” including the involvement of law enforcement, will be utilized.

For athletes such as Price, however, the city all-star game represents a chance to recover from injury and perhaps a final opportunity to impress college coaches.

His knee and ankle both felt “hot” immediately after the injuries, he said. An MRI confirmed his knee injury in November. Surgery repaired it Dec. 11.

“At the pace I’m going, my physical therapist is pushing me, and I’m trying to get my leg ready for the all-star game," he said. "And yes, I believe I’ll be ready before the game.”

Price, a powerful runner with quick feet, was voted All-Public League as a junior by league coaches. Injuries, he believes, hampered his recruitment as a senior.

“It’s just always been in my heart to play football,” said Price, who attends Sankofa, which doesn’t have a football program.

His mom, Keva Waters, and dad, Greg Price, put him in football when he was 5 years old. He played for the Mount Airy Bantams and Lawncrest before Frankford.

“It would be a dream come true to play in college," he said.

Price is already an academic qualifier by NCAA standards, Sytsma said. He just wants an opportunity to play, and he’s not alone.

“Honestly for some kids, it could be the last football game they ever play,” said Bartram coach and athletic director Jim Chapman.

Chapman, in his sixth year as coach and administrator, guided the Public side last year.

“It was a great experience and brought a lot of the city’s kids together, and some of them forged bonds that they’ll have forever,” he said.

Since news of the turmoil surrounding the game broke, Chapman said his players have asked about the game’s status. Sytsma echoed similar sentiments.

“We need all hands on deck to make sure this works,” Chapman said. “It’s not an easy task. We need support from all the former alumni of the game and for businesses to help out and help do this for our kids, because our kids deserve this.”

Berkeley schools CFO who embezzled $1.2 million sentenced to 63 months in federal prison

The former chief financial officer who stole $1.2 million from the Berkeley County School District was sentenced Wednesday to more than five years in federal prison for what authorities have described as possibly the largest public embezzlement scheme in South Carolina.

A judge handed down the sentence to 62-year-old Brantley Denmark Thomas III during a hearing in U.S. District Court in downtown Charleston.

The once-respected and longtime district administrator previously pleaded guilty to 20 federal counts of embezzlement, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering over a 16 year stretch.

His 63-month sentence fell at the highest end of a prison term called for by federal sentencing guidelines.

Thomas, who said little during his sentencing while clad in a striped jail jumpsuit, also faces prosecution in state court where 35 other criminal counts are pending. He will serve any prison time for those charges after completing his federal prison term. 

Dozens of school district representatives packed the courtroom Wednesday along with Thomas’ supporters. Some district employees wrote letters to District Judge David Norton detailing the impact of Thomas’ crimes, but they did not speak in court.

Brantley Thomas. Provided

Norton said Thomas pocketed funds that should have benefited students and also accepted $32,000 in bribes and kickbacks.

The crimes didn’t stop when Thomas was hit with state and federal charges. The state Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting the state case, said Thomas stole around $35,000 from Jackson Davenport Vision Center, a Charleston eye care business that employed him as a bookkeeper while he was out on bond in 2017 and 2018.

Norton said Thomas has an apparent “OPM addiction,” referencing his thefts of “other people’s money.”

Thomas was ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution to the school district, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He will serve three years on court supervision after he is released from prison.

Superintendent Eddie Ingram, who was hired by the district in the wake of the embezzlement scandal, said Thomas’ sentence represented a “major step” for the district to move forward.

“It’s sort of a breath of fresh air,” he said.

Thomas oversaw all of the district’s finances, including a nearly $260 million general fund. With a salary of $130,500, he was among the district’s highest paid employees in the district, and he also collected a pension during the final years of his career.

District lawyer Josh Whitley said Thomas’ “larger financial mismanagement” overshadowed the $1.2 million he embezzled. The former CFO misspent $46 million of the fund balance, Whitley said, and the district later had to restore it or risk losing its bond rating. Thomas also misspent the district’s construction budget for facilities by “tens of millions of dollars,” Whitley said.

Officials said they’ve addressed the shortfall by issuing bonds and hiring new auditors and financial advisers, though such efforts have lessened their ability to focus on the needs of students in the rapidly growing county.

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Berkeley schools suing popular auditing firm for missing CFO’s $1.2 million embezzlement

Berkeley County School District on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against its former auditing firm seeking “in excess of $10 million or other amount to be determined at trial” because the firm did not detect a $1.2 embezzlement by the district’s CFO. 

The district fired Thomas in February 2017 after officials learned that the FBI and Wells Fargo bank were looking into missing funds.

The FBI’s probe, prompted by a tip, uncovered a pervasive scheme that began in 2001 and grew more sophisticated in later years.

Authorities said Thomas stole from the district on at least 45 occasions, using several methods that included overpaying vendors through school district accounts and then depositing refund checks into his personal account.

Among the stolen funds were federal grants intended for special-education students.

Authorities said Thomas also pocketed at least $32,000 in bribes and kickbacks for awarding the district’s insurance policy contracts to specific companies.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Ryan wrote that Thomas’ thievery funded a lifestyle of luxury: international travel, jewelry and a membership at the Carolina Yacht Club.

Thomas’ defense attorney, Matt Hubbell, portrayed his client as a “broken and ashamed man” who was prepared to accept a significant prison term. He said Thomas completed an alcohol addiction treatment program in November and has been devoted to caring for his 18-year-old daughter.

The attorney asked that Thomas serve his federal sentence at a minimum-security prison camp in Estill.

Whitley, the district’s attorney, said officials expect Thomas to receive a longer sentence on the state charges, which include counts of embezzlement, misconduct in office, and forgery.

A spokesman for Attorney General’s Office said Thomas has not entered a plea. A date for his next court hearing in that case was not finalized as of Wednesday.

Hastings assistant principal and wrestling coach faces embezzlement, theft charges

An assistant principal and wrestling coach at Hastings High School was charged Tuesday with embezzling nearly $14,000 meant for the school’s wrestling team, allegedly using it instead on out-of-state trips to college football games.

Joshua Gerald McLay, 37, of Hastings, faces eight counts of theft by swindle and eight counts of embezzlement of public funds, all felonies.

According to charging documents filed by the Dakota County prosecutor, the thefts go back to September 2011.

The charges state that McLay took roads trips to college football games from 2011 to 2018 as far away as Florida, and then sought reimbursement from the school district for hotels, van and RV rentals, food and gas by saying the trips were to coaching clinics.

He sometimes used his district credit card, and some years he sought reimbursement for football tickets.

“The investigation revealed that all of the above expenses were claimed to be for coaches clinics, but that no coaches clinics took place on any of these trips,” said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom in a statement.

According to a statement last year from the district, the money McLay used was from a fund made up of donations from individuals and businesses for the wrestling team. Under the district’s policies, that money can be used only for equipment, training, events and travel expenses related to the wrestling team.

District officials became suspicious last year when McLay submitted a purchase order for 10 tickets to a Notre Dame-Florida State game in Indiana. The school district demoted him late last year, but he is still employed by the Hastings School District.

“The Hastings school board entered into an agreement with Mr. McLay back in November. The agreement is binding, pending the outcome of recent charges, and we are continuing to move forward with that agreement at this point in time,” said Hastings Superintendent Tim Collins.

The deal approved by the school board requires McLay to step down from his coaching duties at the end of the wrestling season in March and from his assistant principal job in June. He would be allowed to work for the district as a teacher in the 2019-20 school year.

The agreement also requires McLay to reimburse the district for the money that officials say he misspent and serve a 10-day unpaid suspension once wrestling season is over.

McLay is a 2000 graduate and a former wrestling standout at Hastings High and the University of Minnesota, and has been wrestling coach at Hastings High since 2010. School Board Chairwoman Lisa Hedin said last fall that the board decided to let him stay on partly as a recognition of his positive work with the district.

Former parent-teacher group president due in court Monday for hearing in $22,000 embezzlement case

The former president and treasurer of an Indio elementary school parent-teacher organization accused of embezzling more than $22,000 from the association was scheduled to be in court on Monday.

Danny Cervantes, 35, of Indio, is charged with grand theft. He's accused of taking $22,043 over the course of 10 months via a debit card issued to him as the head of the Herbert Hoover Elementary School's parent-teacher organization.

He was due in court on Monday for a felony settlement conference.

Cervantes was appointed the organization's president and treasurer in October 2016 due to his background as an accountant, according to an arrest warrant declaration that says his responsibilities included "balancing the books, issuing checks/payments, purchasing and making deposits."

Cervantes made withdrawals from the account and "vehemently avoided" providing any bank statements or updates on the association's finances to other organization members, according to the declaration.

Supporting documents indicate the embezzlement began shortly after he was appointed. Indio police began an investigation last fall, when a Hoover Elementary teacher came forward to report she found copies of the bank statements, which showed "excessive ATM/Teller activity," which was unusual because the PTA "rarely dealt with cash and mostly wrote checks or used the debit card to pay for items."

She also told police that "because of her comfort and longstanding friendship with Danny, (she) never suspected any wrongdoing," the declaration states.

Police obtained video and photographic evidence of Cervantes allegedly making transactions at various ATMs throughout the area.

When interviewed by Indio detectives, he allegedly denied making the transactions and said other people had access to the debit card. But once confronted with photos of his ATM withdrawals, he allegedly admitted taking the money and wrote an apology letter to the school stating he would pay back the missing funds, according to police.

Former North Huron secretary takes plea deal in embezzlement case

A former North Huron Schools employee will have to repay the district roughly $11,000 she embezzled after taking a plea agreement from the prosecutor’s office.

Amy M. Kosinski, 46, of Port Austin, made her first appearance in Huron County Circuit Court on Monday for arraignment. She was charged with one count of embezzlement, trustee, more than $1,000 but less than $20,000.

Kosinski was a secretary in the administrative office at North Huron Schools. She was in charge of depositing checks into the school district’s bank account.

Between three separate incidents, Kosinski didn’t deposit $6,625 worth of checks into the district's account, according to a Kinde Police Report. She was also accused of embezzling $4,420 in cash from the district.

During Monday’s hearing, Huron County Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski read the terms of a plea agreement, which included a no contest plea by Kosinski, and in exchange, prosecutors would not seek further charges.

The no contest plea was on a basis of “potential civil liability,” defense attorney Kyle M’Mara said.

Kosinski will be responsible for paying restitution to the school district in full.

Prior to accepting the plea, Prill reviewed a report from the Kinde Police Department and other documents provided by the prosecutor’s office. Those items included photographs, bank deposit slips and information gathered by a bookkeeper at North Huron Schools.

The plea was accepted and sentencing is set for April 8. Kosinski faces up to five years in prison and as of Monday, she remains free on bond.

The three incidents happened between Sept. 4 and Oct. 24 of last year. North Huron Superintendent Martin Prout previously told the Tribune that Kosinski just stopped showing up for work. The district accepted her resignation in December.

Trial related to school embezzlement set for April 30

An Eau Claire woman faces an April trial in connection with the alleged embezzlement of more than $230,000 from the Village Seventh-day Adventist School in Berrien Springs.

Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic said Sarah Jane Kurtz, 50, of West Eureka Road in Eau Claire faces an April 30 trial on a felony charge of embezzlement more than $100,000. The alleged embezzlement took place over an eight-year period from 2011 to 2018 when Kurtz was the school’s secretary/treasurer.

Kurtz was initially arraigned in Niles in January, but the case was transferred to St. Joseph when Berrien County Trial Judge Charles LaSata recused himself, as he knows her family. Kurtz’s husband, Martin, is a lieutenant in the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department.

The audit showed that money was embezzled from the school in a number of ways including automatic bill payments, the use of the school’s debit card for personal purchases, fund transfers to a personal account, and by cash payments, Sepic said.

For example, more than $115,000 was allegedly embezzled from September 2015 through July 2018 through automatic payments to American Express from the school’s account with Honor Credit Union. However, the school had no account with American Express.

The alleged embezzlement came to light in November when a letter from the Village Seventh-day Adventist Church and School sent to church members and parents was given to the media.

The letter stated in part: “Many details of this crime will not be shared publicly by the church or school.” It also noted that the school is “re-establishing a strong foundation in spite of this challenge. Careful and thorough reporting is going on, and tightened systems of accountability are in place.”

Church and school officials reassured parents and church members that the school would be made whole. “Whether through restitution or insurance, the school will recover the lost funds,” the letter stated.

Sepic said the case has now been assigned to Berrien County Trial Judge Sterling Schrock. Sarah Kurtz waived her right to a preliminary hearing Friday morning at a pre-exam conference.

Upcoming court dates include case conferences set for March 15 and April 22, before the April 30 trial date start.

The police report noted that the alleged embezzlement was investigated by the Michigan State Police Fifth District Headquarters. The Berrien Springs-Oronoko Township Police Department did not investigate the matter because Police Chief Paul Toliver worked with Martin Kurtz for more than 20 years when Toliver was at the sheriff’s department, the report said.

If convicted, Sarah Kurtz faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison. She is free on a $10,000, 10 percent bond.

According to the police report, the alleged embezzlement was discovered last summer when a teacher’s salary check bounced and an audit was conducted. The police report indicated that Sarah Kurtz allegedly sent an email to the school in July 2018 confessing to taking $127,000

Officials: North Carolina ex-church administrator embezzled more than $200K

Authorities in North Carolina say a former office administrator embezzled more than $200,000 from a church and used the money to pay bills, taxes and personal expenses.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports prosecutors say 49-year-old Barrett Isley Kenan entered guilty pleas in a Forsyth County court to 44 counts of felony obtaining property by false pretenses.

Kenan received a suspended sentence of between 1 year, 3 months to 3 years, 9 months in prison. She was also placed on supervised probation for three years.

Winston-Salem Police Lt. Eric Montgomery said the investigation goes back to late 2012. He said Kenan was using the church's debit card for personal use and falsified her work hours to get more pay. Montgomery said Kenan also falsified documents to cover up her actions.

Former Alma d'Arte employees and ex-business manager charged with embezzlement

Two former employees of the Alma d'Arte Charter High School were charged Monday with multiple felonies stemming from a New Mexico State Police investigation last fall into fraud and embezzlement at the school.

The charges follow a criminal complaint filed in December against the school's former business manager, who provided services to other charter schools in Las Cruces as well.

In sum, the three cases allege over $150,000 in misappropriated funds and related crimes.

The school's former business manager, Juliette Rivera, was charged in December with embezzling over $120,000 across a 14-year period from 2004 to 2018. She was also charged with tampering with evidence and public records.

Rivera had also provided accounting services for La Academia Dolores Huerta, named as the school's business manager as recently as 2018 on Public Education Department filings, but on Wednesday LADH principal Melissa Miranda told the Sun-News Rivera was not employed at the school.

Court records indicate that state police detectives also suspect Rivera of misappropriating $708 from J. Paul Taylor Academy when she worked for that school, for which she has been charged with embezzlement in a separate criminal complaint.

Police allege, based on an investigation by the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor, that Rivera "manipulated the reconciliation of the bank statements every month by paying herself extra monthly pay ... and documenting the monies as being vendor payments." 

Rivera's attorney declined to comment when reached Thursday morning.

Principal allegedly gave himself a raise

Alma d'Arte's former principal, Mark Hartshorne, faces charges that he embezzled $20,000 from the school, tampered with records, committed forgery and conspired to commit embezzlement. 

Hartshorne is alleged in the criminal complaint to have embezzled $20,000 from Alma d'Arte, as well as forging governing council president Gene Elliott's signature authorizing a $7,000 raise in his salary for the 2017-18 school year, a raise not approved by the school's governing board. Court documents further allege that Hartshorne received unauthorized stipends of $5,000 and $8,000.

Court documents state that when Hartshorne was interviewed by police, he complained that in approximately 10 years as principal "he never had one evaluation or pay raise," and that he admitted signing Elliott's name on three documents but said he did so with Elliott's permission. 

Hartshorne was charged Monday with embezzlement (over $2,500), forgery, tampering with evidence, tampering with public records, and conspiracy, all felony charges.

Hartshorne left the school in 2018, and was replaced at the start of the current school year by Holly Schullo. From 1991 to 2003, he served first as an assistant principal and, since 1995, as principal of Las Cruces High School. 

Reached by phone Wednesday, Hartshorne declined to comment.

Additionally, the school's former special education coordinator, Maggie Baber, was charged with embezzlement for allegedly receiving $11,500 above her authorized contract.

According to police, Baber told an investigator in January that she had submitted an invoice for a stipend in compensation for working additional hours on evenings and weekends in 2017. She stated she believed the stipend was approved by the principal, a claim Hartshorne denied to detectives.

However, the school told police that payroll records showed that in addition to the stipend, Baber had been paid $6,500 in addition to her regular paychecks, with the bonus payments deposited to a different bank account. Baber was charged with embezzlement (over $2,500) and conspiracy.

Baber left the charter school in September 2018, and joined the Las Cruces Public Schools the following month. The district confirmed Thursday that Baber remained an employee of the district, and is currently on leave.

Baber declined to comment when the Sun-News reached her Wednesday, citing the advice of her lawyer. 

The three defendants have hearings scheduled in Doña Ana Magistrate Court in March.

Officials from Alma d'Arte did not respond to inquiries from the Sun-News for this story.