Update: New Mexico School Administrator Pleads Guilty To $3.4 Million Embezzlement Scheme

Kathy Borrego, 51, of Abiquiu, New Mexico, pleaded guilty today to charges she embezzled nearly $3.4 million from Jemez Mountain Schools in Galina, New Mexico, where she had been employed as business manager. Prosecutors had alleged that Borrego wrote at least 538 checks to herself, her boyfriend and her daughter over a seven year period, totalling $3,378,701. Specifically, Borrego pleaded guilty to six counts of embezzlement, one count of improper use of official anthems and four counts of tax evasion. Prosecutors allege that Borrego's scheme lasted at least 7 years. She faces up to 41 years in prison upon sentencing.

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Update (5/12/10): Borrego reportedly committed suicide last weekend, prior to her sentencing which was scheduled for Monday.

New Mexico Woman Charged In $3.4 Million School Embezzlement Scheme

Kathy Borrego, 51, of Abiquiu, New Mexico, has been chargd with embezzling nearly $3.4 million from Jemez Mountain Schools in Galina, New Mexico, where she had been employed as business manager. Prosecutors allege that Borrego wrote at least 538 checks to herself, her boyfriend and her daughter over a seven year period, totalling $3,378,701. She faces six counts of embezzlement, one count of improper use of official anthems and four counts of tax evasion. Borrego also faces a civil suit filed by the school district to freeze her assets and recover the monies. According to reports, Borrego began working at the school district in 1999, but auditors were unable to access necessary bank records to probe the district's finances for the first three years she worked there. The small, New Mexican school district has only 375 students.

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