近距离内射合集

A key government witness testified Monday that a department headed by former House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton approved invoices that allowed a firm to overbill Albuquerque Public Schools by more than $300,000 in excess of its 2020 contract limit.

Crystal Chavez, an IRS agent and key government witness, told jurors that Robotics Management Learning System, a Washington, D.C.-based firm owned by Stapleton's co-defendant, overcharged APS by $328,000 in 2020, largely by double-billing for certain services.

Robotics was allowed to bill APS a maximum of $353,000 under the company's 2020 contract with APS, Chavez told jurors on the fifth day of testimony in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

The trial is scheduled to continue through Friday before U.S. District Judge James O. Browning.

Chavez also testified that Stapleton failed to report on her federal income tax returns a total of $554,000 in payments she allegedly obtained from Robotics for tax years 2015 to 2018. Chavez told jurors that Stapleton declared $0 in taxable income in each of those years and obtained tax refunds totaling tens of thousands of dollars.

Stapleton, 68, a former APS official, and her co-defendant, Joseph Johnson, were indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2024 each on 37 criminal counts, including bribery, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the 近距离内射合集 States.

Stapleton and Johnson both have pleaded not guilty to all 37 counts and deny the allegations.

Defense attorney Ryan Villa said in opening statements last week that Stapleton acknowledges taking money from Johnson's company but denies that she stole state and federal education funding as alleged by the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is prosecuting the case.

Johnson's attorney told jurors last week that Johnson was victimized by Stapleton and knew nothing of her criminal activities.

Stapleton, a longtime Democratic state representative for House District 19, east of the University of New Mexico, resigned from her post in 2021 after the New Mexico Department of Justice served search warrants at her home and offices. She was fired in August 2021 from her job at APS as director of Career and Technical Education.

Chavez told jurors that Stapleton's CTE department approved the invoices submitted by Robotics, allowing APS to pay the company for services associated with the company's educational software product.

Prosecutors also offered testimony Monday intended to support their allegation that Stapleton operated a system that allowed her to access money APS paid to Robotics.

Mark Sena, a former investigator for the NMDOJ, told jurors Monday that he observed Stapleton retrieve material from an Albuquerque post office box registered to Robotics.

Prosecutors allege that APS mailed checks to Robotics' post office box and that Stapleton personally retrieved the checks and deposited them into a Robotics business checking account.

Stapleton then used blank checks for the Robotics business checking account to deposit money into accounts that she owned or controlled, according to the federal indictment.

Stapleton allegedly directed $1,152,506 from Robotics' checking account into accounts she controlled using blank checks provided by the company. The alleged offenses occurred between July 2013 and June 2020.

Prosecutors played video that Sena said shows Stapleton picking up documents from Robotics' post office box near the Albuquerque International Sunport.

The government is expected to rest its case on Tuesday.

Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.