Ex-lawmaker facing new charges as feds join case
Bribery, money laundering added to list of accusations against Williams Stapleton
A long list of criminal charges against a former high-ranking member of the state House of Representatives just got longer.
Former state Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton faces dozens of new federal charges related to allegations she abused her position as an administrator of an Albuquerque Public Schools career and technical education program and personally reaped large sums of public funding, according to a grand jury indictment filed Tuesday in federal court.
Federal investigators allege Stapleton, 66, helped funnel more than $3 million — including about $2.5 million in federal funds — into a Washington, D.C.-based company she helped run.
A money trail from the company, called Robotics Management Learning Systems, to Stapleton’s Albuquerque restaurant and charity organization shows she made more than $1 million in the alleged scheme, the federal indictment states.
The list of 30 new federal counts against the onetime Albuquerque legislator include charges of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, mail fraud and money laundering. A 2021 state prosecution against Stapleton involving 28 counts of racketeering, fraud and money laundering is pending; a jury trial on those charges has been rescheduled several times over the past year.
Stapleton has maintained her innocence amid investigations and subsequent allegations over the past few years, and through her lawyers Wednesday continued to deny any wrongdoing.
Amy Williams, an attorney with the Albuquerque law firm Ahmad Assed and Associates, wrote in an email Wednesday, “Ms. Stapleton continues to enjoy the presumption of innocence afforded to all persons under the Constitution.
“Despite these allegations, it is undisputed that Ms. Stapleton is a lifelong public servant who has devoted her career to the betterment of her community and underserved minorities in New Mexico, who otherwise would not have a voice,” she wrote. “We only ask that the public resist the temptation to equate allegations as undisputed fact, and she looks forward to the day that the truth comes out.”
Williams wrote federal prosecutors had taken an “unprecedented step” in prosecuting Stapleton in federal court simultaneously with the state criminal case.
U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Tessa DuBerry declined to comment on whether delays in the state case against Stapleton factored into the federal prosecution, but noted “simultaneous state and federal prosecution is not unprecedented.”
“We move federal cases as efficiently as possible while protecting the rights of the accused and the interests of the public,” DuBerry wrote in response to whether federal prosecutors would pursue a timelier conviction.
Stapleton, a coordinator for Albuquerque Public Schools’ career and technical education program, was in charge of administering public funds, including federal Perkins Grant funds for career training. From about 2013 to 2021, she approved payments of invoices totaling about $3.2 million to the contractor, with the school district’s payments mailed to a post office box in Albuquerque, the federal indictment states.
Prosecutors allege in the indictment that Robotics Management Learning Systems hired a third party to provide software and training for the career and technical education program — called CyberQuest — at a cost of about $800,000 over about eight years, leaving nearly $2.5 million, or 75% of the total payments, “for other uses.”
The school district contracted with Robotics Management Learning Systems for the software through a series of sole-source procurement contracts, according to the indictment.
Stapleton wrote 56 checks from the company directly to her Albuquerque restaurant, Taste of the Caribbean, and 104 checks to her charity organization, Ujima Foundation, prosecutors alleged. The organization has been billed as a nonprofit created to address “educational, social, economic and health issues facing people of color in New Mexico,” but prosecutors wrote several people who were listed as board members on the organization’s tax filings were unaware when asked about their involvement.
The indictment alleges Williams Stapleton also wrote 11 checks totaling more than $70,000 from Robotics Management Learning Systems for various personal goods and services, including a remodel of her house.
In all, prosecutors alleged 233 checks from the company — totaling $1,152,506 — flowed to Stapleton, claiming she “accepted the checks and the money intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with the APS contracts with and payments to Robotics.”
Investigators also accused an associate, Joseph Johnson, of involvement in the scheme, writing in the indictment he ran Robotics Learning Management Systems.
Stapleton served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2021, when she resigned. She served as majority floor leader, second to former Speaker Brian Egolf, for about four years, and she also sat on the House Education Committee.
Federal prosecutors allege she abused her role in the Legislature as well, pointing out in the indictment she cosponsored legislation in 2019 that created the statewide mechanism for career and technical education funds to flow to Albuquerque Public Schools. Later that year, she approved a contract with Johnson to spend the funds on the CyberQuest program, the indictment states.
In financial disclosure forms and personal tax filings, Stapleton omitted the income she had received from Robotics Learning Management Systems, prosecutors allege.
She was fired in 2021 by the Albuquerque school district, the state’s largest.
Stapleton and Johnson are charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, 13 counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and five counts each of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. Stapleton also is charged with one count of fraud and false statements and nine counts of money laundering.
If the two are convicted on the charges, they could be forced to forfeit millions in cash or property connected with the allegations, according to the indictment.
An arraignment on the federal charges for Stapleton and Johnson is scheduled for April 9.