The former senior director of fiscal services at an Orange County, California, school district has been sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for embezzling nearly $16.7 million from the district.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California says that Jorge Armando Contreras, 53, who was the senior director of fiscal services at Magnolia Elementary School District, was sentenced after pleading guilty in March to embezzlement, theft, and intentional misapplication of funds from an organization receiving federal funds.
The Magnolia district serves about 4,900 students in Anaheim and Stanton.
As part of the sentence, U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter ordered Contreras to pay $16,694,942 in restitution.
“Instead of using his job at a public school district to help socio-economically disadvantaged children, Contreras embezzled millions upon millions of dollars, which he flagrantly spent on a luxury home, car, and designer clothes and accessories,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada.
Contreras, whom the Magnolia district hired in 2006, managed its fiscal operations. The district serves students from preschool through sixth grade – 81% of whom are classified as socio-economically disadvantaged.
Prosecutors say Contreras wrote checks in small dollar amounts written to “M S D,” with the letters spaced out, and, after receiving the proper signatures from others, would include fictitious names and increase the amounts of the checks and deposit the checks into his personal bank account via ATMs.
To conceal his fraud, Contreras provided bank reconciliation packets to others at the school district with falsified bank statements and records.
In total, Contreras embezzled about $16,694,942 from the district over several years. The district placed him on administrative leave in August 2023.
Law enforcement so far has seized about $7.7 million in personal and real property traced to the scheme, including a home in Yorba Linda.
