Store manager pleads no contest to fraud, embezzlement counts
Prosecutor: Man stole between $50,000 and $70,000 by keeping cash payments
A former Santa Fe beauty supply store manager pleaded no contest Thursday to three counts of felony tax fraud and one count of embezzlement in a 2014 case in which he was accused of stealing between $50,000 and $70,000 from his employer.
Craig Latimore, 44, was sentenced to 4½ years’ probation as part of a multifaceted plea deal that includes a partial conditional discharge, allowing him to have the three felony charges removed from his record if he completes probation.
Latimore must pay restitution in an amount that has yet to be determined.
But District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said Latimore could face up to 7½ years in prison if he fails to comply
with the terms of his probation or pay restitution.
“It’s only good if you don’t violate,” the judge told Latimore, who said nothing on his own behalf at his plea hearing. “If you violate, everything is back on the table.”
Sommer said she structured the deal to increase the chances Latimore would be able to repay the victim, Nathan Nash, who owns Armstrong McCall Beauty Supply stores in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
“If he’s a felon, you can kiss a decent job goodbye,” Judge Sommer said in court Thursday.
According to statements made by the prosecutor in court Thursday, Latimore stole the money over a period of about four years by keeping cash payments and voiding the transactions from the register — re-entering them as returns on credit card purchases and even adjusting computerized inventory to reflect the missing products.
Nash discovered the scheme, Assistant District Attorney Gregory Ara Chakalian said, when Latimore went on vacation to Central America and cash sales at the Santa Fe store suddenly jumped.
Chakalian said much of the investigative work on the case was done by the state Taxation and Revenue Department, which ultimately led to the plea agreement in which Latimore pleaded no contest to tax fraud for not reporting the income he received from his embezzlement.
Latimore now works as a manager at Wal-Mart, his lawyer said.