Judge rejects plea deal for NNMC embezzler

SANTA FE — A judge rejected a plea deal for a former Northern New Mexico College financial director who has acknowledged embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the school, saying the deal was “too lenient,” according to a spokesman for the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office.

Henrietta Trujillo, 63, was charged with one count of embezzlement over $20,000 in July, more than two years after Trujillo admitted to State Police to taking $82,000 in cash and not depositing another $167,000 in checks.

District Attorney spokesman Henry Varela said in an email after the Monday hearing in Tierra Amarilla that prosecutors offered Trujillo a deal in which she would agree to plead guilty to the charge, a second-degree felony, and receive a nine-year suspended sentence with the requirement that she pay $82,000 to the college and about $4,300 to the state Taxation and Revenue Department.

But state District Court Judge Jason Lidyard, who used to work as a prosecutor under current Santa Fe District Attorney Marco Serna, rejected the deal.

Jake Arnold, executive director of the NNMC advocacy group La Sociedad Venceslao Jaramillo, named for the college’s founder, said that in rejecting the plea deal Lidyard pointed at inmates in jail attire who were in court for their own cases and said some of them would be doing jail time for shoplifting.

Arnold said the deal would have allowed Trujillo to pay out the $82,000 over five years. He said a college official who spoke about improvements in accountability under NNMC’s new administration over the past two years did not speak for or against the plea deal.

Rejection of the plea deal “came as an unfortunate surprise to the District Attorney’s Office who had worked with the Defendant and the Northern New Mexico College for a resolution that contemplated the full restitution that can be traced to her embezzlement scheme and the unpaid taxes attributable to her illegal windfall … ,” Varela of the DA’s Office said in an email.

“When it comes to white collar crimes and defendants without a criminal history, District Attorney Serna favors accountability and full restitution. DA Serna is surprised that a Judge who favors retribution and recovery over prison rejected the plea.”

State Police began investigating in early 2017 after the State Auditor’s Office confirmed that $200,000 in cash and checks were missing or not deposited in school accounts. The case was forwarded to the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office in October 2017, according to State Police reports.

Over $500,000 was spent on Trujillo’s Pueblo of Pojoaque casino player’s card between 2007 and 2016, but she told police that she didn’t have a gambling problem. She said she and her husband were having serious financial problems and was helping for her mother and sister’s medical bills.

Former DA’s Office spokesman James Hallinan said in May that the office wanted to negotiate a plea deal before filing charges. Trujillo also faces several debt collection actions.