When former Northern New Mexico College finance director Henrietta Trujillo resigned her position seven months ago, she gave her former supervisor a box of evidence that reportedly detailed how she allegedly deprived the College of a couple hundred-thousand dollars.
To make sure Trujillo’s alleged theft was limited to the $200,000 and that no federal funds were misappropriated, state and federal regulators instructed Northern administrators to hire fraud accountants to conduct a review.
Northern New Mexico College interim vice president of Finance and Administration Ricky Bejerano entered into an agreement with Albuquerque-based McHard Accounting Consulting, LLC.
The review will cost Northern about $115,000, which is $70,000 more than the original $45,000 contract the parties signed, Aug. 4.
Bejerano extended the scope of work and increased the contract value, so the accountants can examine the various federal fund accounts, to ensure they weren’t impacted by Trujillo’s alleged dishonesty.
“The forensic audit has been expanded at the request of the federal government,” he said. “It should be completed by the end of October and the report should be complete by the middle of November.”
Northern President Richard Bailey said the College will have to cover the entire cost of the forensic review.
According to the amended contract, the auditors will review the Federal Title III funds, which are allocated to the District to promote higher education access among low-income students. The auditors will also look into past allegations that various school administrators misused grant funds.
“The additional scope also includes conducting an investigation of previously filed whistleblower complaints concerning Title III funds, including investigation of allegations of supplanting, fraud or misuse of Title III funds as alleged by complainants,” the contract states.
Office of the State Auditor Deputy Chief of Staff Justine Freeman said the Office authorized the audit so various stakeholders can get an accurate picture of the alleged theft.
“Because annual audits are limited in their scope, it was not possible to determine the exact amount of the loss without additional forensic work,” she said. “This should assist the District Attorney and State Police with their investigation, as well as inform the U.S. Department of Education and oversight bodies as to the nature of lost funds.”
Lack of criminal prosecution
Although Trujillo admitted to the embezzlement and provided a blueprint for how she carried out and hid the deception, charges haven’t been filed nor has an arrest been made.
First Judicial District Attorney Marco Serna said in an Aug. 30 telephone conversation, that he would secure an indictment within 30 days.
“I am actually going to have some meetings to finalize with the State Police,” he said. “We should be indicting in 30 days.”
However, it’s been more than two months later and his office has not charged Trujillo — she is still free. Serna said his office hasn’t initiated prosecution for a couple of reasons, including the complicated nature of the allegations and the lack of a final report from the New Mexico State Police.
“We do have a written admission and we want to make sure all accounts are accounted for so that we get the correct number,” he said. “So it is not necessarily us trying to kick the can down the road. It just takes a while.”
State Police Public Information Officer Lt. Elizabeth Armijo said, Oct. 5, that her Department has completed its investigation and will forward the findings to Serna’s Office for review.
Santa Fe Public Defender Jennifer Burrill is a Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Board member.
While she acknowledges that some white collar crimes could be more to difficult to prosecute because of the financial aspect, she said the difficulty shouldn’t translate to the accused not being held accountable.
“Harder to prosecute doesn’t mean less criminal liability,” Burrill said. “They may not be an immediate danger to the community, so it may fall under that analysis. But as far as not pursuing prosecution, that doesn’t make any sense.”
She said if law enforcement officials discovered the amount allegedly stolen is more than originally thought, the prosecution could amend the complaint until the case goes to the jury.
She said the only time the prosecution would have a hard time amending the complaint is if the new charges lead to a complete overhaul of defense strategies.
But in this case, the only thing that would probably change is the dollar amount, which wouldn’t warrant an entirely new defense strategy.