1/29/09
While a former Española Municipal Court clerk agreed to a plea deal last week in a Los Alamos case in which she was accused of defrauding her former employer of over $250,000, the investigation into accusations she embezzled over $12,000 from the city in 2007 has still not been completed.
Ana Vivar, 29, was indicted in January 2008 for 11 counts of embezzlement and 11 counts of computer fraud for depositing thousands of dollars into accounts she created for family members as a teller at Del Norte Credit Union in Los Alamos, according to a police report and court documents. In total, she “fraudulently obtained” $264,758, the Los Alamos Police Department report states.
Vivar pleaded guilty Jan. 23 in state District Court in Santa Fe to 11 counts of unauthorized computer use and one count of attempt to evade or defeat tax. Public defender Sidney West said the evidence related to the embezzlement charges was weak. The unauthorized computer use plea means Vivar admits to opening the accounts for family members but not to embezzling the funds, which West said Vivar intended to pay back. As part of the plea agreement, Vivar pleaded guilty to attempt to evade or defeat tax as she was not paying taxes on the “loans” from Del Norte, West said.
Vivar’s case is further complicated because of her immigration status, West said. Originally from Colombia, Vivar has legal status to work here but is not a United States citizen, West said. Currently the public defenders’ office is investigating the immigration consequences to the plea. Vivar is the ex-wife of Española Jail Director Ted Garcia.
“There are certain things you can plea to that immigration will automatically deport you on,” West said.
Before Vivar’s Feb. 5 sentencing, if the public defenders’ office discovers the plea will jeopardize her immigration status, either a new plea will be negotiated or the case will go to trial. Otherwise she will probably be sentenced to probation with a 17-and-a-half-year prison sentence hanging over her head if she violates probation, West said.
Vivar actually worked for Española Municipal Court before and after Del Norte Credit Union, according to her personnel file. She first served as a clerk there from February to April 2005, then resigned. Vivar worked at Del Norte Credit Union until July 2006 and was hired by the city in January 2007. By July 2007, her duties were changed to prevent her from accepting payments at the court window, and she was fired at the end of August.
A private investigation firm was hired six days after Vivar was fired and gave its findings to the city Oct. 4, 2007: Vivar allegedly embezzled $12,386.48 in her seven months of work. Since then, Española Police has been conducting its own investigation into Vivar. The investigation is ongoing and the District Attorney has not yet received a report, Española Police Sgt. Christian Lopez said.
“White collar crimes take a lot longer to solve than other crimes,” Lopez said.
Lopez said the shortage of manpower at the Department has caused white collar crimes to sit on the backburner while violent crimes are a higher priority for the Department.