Fraud claims at Congregation Albert probed
Former administrator under investigation
A lawsuit filed in state District Court alleges that a former bookkeeper and administrator of Congregation Albert stole more than $600,000 from the synagogue over a two-year period.
The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office confirmed it is now investigating the allegations. Matt Baca, spokesman for the AG’s office, would not give any other details.
The lawsuit, filed in 2nd Judicial District Court, identifies the former administrator as Crystal Lucero and states she began working at the congregation as a bookkeeper in June 2016 and had defrauded the congregation “at least” by May 11, 2017 after moving into an administrator position.
Lucero has not been charged with any crime, and she could not be reached for comment.
She was fired June 14, days after Congregation Albert filed the lawsuit detailing accusations against her.
“We discovered this unfortunate event and immediately took steps to stop the embezzlement and put into place new procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” said Congregation President Dale Atkinson.
In a July 1 letter, Atkinson told members the AG’s office alerted the congregation to “questionable transactions” with their bank accounts.
“We are heartbroken that anyone we trusted would take advantage of our trust to steal from our Congregation,” Atkinson wrote. He promised to “get to the bottom of this” and asked members not to “start or circulate rumors” in the meantime.
In the letter, Atkinson said he doesn’t suspect anyone else within the Congregation or its staff was involved.
The lawsuit alleges Lucero fraudulently used the congregation’s checks to pay personal expenses, endorsed and converted checks that were meant for the congregation and drew the congregation’s checks and diverted funds to her own personal accounts.
According to the lawsuit, Lucero also withdrew money from and racked up charges totaling more than $11,000 on at least two credit cards issued to the congregation to buy things for herself and gamble before using the congregation’s funds to pay off the credit card debt.
The lawsuit alleges that, during this time, Lucero concealed records and created fraudulent records to “evade detection.”
“She was responsible for overseeing the Congregation’s finances and overall operation,” the lawsuit alleges. “She used this power to further defraud the Congregation and to conceal the scheme.”
The lawsuit alleges that Lucero embezzled more than $600,000.