AG demands resignation of embattled board member
Albuquerque Public Schools official allegedly involved in $700K embezzlement scheme
Attorney General Hector Balderas is demanding that Albuquerque Public Schools board member Analee Maestas resign because of accusations of fraud and embezzlement. But her lawyer says she hasn’t broken any laws and that Balderas is “more concerned with capturing a headline than with the pursuit of the truth.”
Maestas, who represents a South Valley district, was business manager of La Promesa Early Learning Center,a state charter school that Albuquerque police say was the victim of a $700,000 embezzlement allegedly involving Maestas’ daughter, who also had a top position at the school.
Maestas’ lawyer told The New Mexican last week that his client’s daughter’s drug addiction was at the root of the embezzlement scheme.
In a news release Monday, Maestas’ lawyer Marc Lowry said his client “has not engaged in any conduct that violated her oath of office with the APS Board, or any other law.”
Neither Maestas nor her daughter have been charged with any crimes. But Balderas said in a Monday letter to Maestas, “While those matters are pending, the New Mexico Constitution does not require that you be found guilty of any conduct related to them to be declared unfit to hold your office, and your oath to uphold the very same Constitution now demands your resignation.”
Balderas also wrote. “If you do not immediately resign, as required by that oath, my office will take all appropriate legal actions.”
Asked what legal actions the attorney general could take to remove a school board member, Balderas spokesman James Halinan said, “There are numerous civil statutes the attorney general can use to seek removal from office.”
Lowry said in his news release, “Tellingly, [Balderas’] letter does not quote a single law or court case in support of his conclusion that Dr. Maestas must resign.”
Referring to a recent report by State Auditor Tim Keller, Lowry said, “If the attorney general had read the State Auditor’s report, he would understand that Dr. Maestas is innocent, and that the State Auditor did not make a single finding suggesting that Dr. Maestas participated in that report’s allegations of embezzlement or fraud.”
A “risk review” conducted by the State Auditor’s Office found that Analee Maestas’ daughter, Julieanne Maestas, who also worked for La Promesa, deposited more than 500 checks written to 53 different vendors for a total of more than $475,000 into her personal bank account.
Bank records indicate Julieanne Maestas used the money for her personal day-today expenses, bills and loans, according to the auditor’s office, which said she apparently signed many of the checks over to herself through a process known as “dual endorsing.”
“Additionally, the employee deposited about $177,000 worth of checks that were payable to her mother … and her boyfriend, who was a vendor of the school,” the auditor’s office said in a recent news release. “The checks made payable to the employee’s mother and boyfriend may also have been fraud-
ulently dual endorsed.”
The issue first came to light when La Promesa submitted a falsified invoice for reimbursement to the Public Education Department.
The address on a carpet cleaning receipt had been changed from Analee Maestas’ home address to the address for the charter school.
Analee Maestas told auditors she had paid for the carpet cleaning services at the school in cash, but the owner of the carpet cleaning company said his companies “have never performed any services for La Promesa.”
Last week an Albuquerque police spokesman told The New Mexican, “There will be charges. On who and for what, I can’t tell you … but we’re looking at filing charges on at least one, possibly up to three, people on this case.”
In his letter, Balderas said, “All public officials in the state of New Mexico have the duty to treat their position as a public trust, to use their office to advance only the public benefit, and at all times act in a manner that justifies the public’s confidence in them … In the wake of two years worth of highly concerning allegations regarding misuse of public funds and gross fiscal mismanagement at La Promesa Early Learning Center while you were executive director there, it is clear that you are no longer qualified to hold your position as a board member.”