The senior director of fiscal services at the Magnolia School District in Orange County, California, embezzled more than $14 million over seven years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged.
Jorge Armando Contreras was charged with a felony of embezzling from programs receiving federal money, and was jailed without bond, The Orange County Register reported.
Contreras allegedly using the money to pay $1.9 million to American Express, transferred more than $130,000 to a person he would later marry, bought a BMW SUV and withdrew $325,000 in cash from ATMs.
He also allegedly used some of the money to pay $190,000 to a West Hollywood dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon and to buy Versace and Louis Vuitton luxury items, prosecutors claim.
Contreras wrote more than 260 checks to fictitious people — ranging from $11,000 to $95,000 — that were deposited into his personal bank account, according to the charges.
The school district official changed documents to hide the embezzlement, and some of the money was transferred to bank accounts in Mexico, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege in 2020, Contreras bought a house in Yorba Linda and paid for more than $1 million of it through a wire transfer from a personal bank account. He also allegedly changed bank statements for a loan application to hide the embezzled funds.
Now, the district is trying to recover and freeze about $4 million of the federal funds that were stolen. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said 81% of the children in the school district are classified as socio-economically disadvantaged, so the district receives millions of dollars in federal funds every year.
How a person could steal $14 million over seven years with no one noticing means the district should have more checks in place and Contreras should never again be trusted with other peoples’ money.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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