Man who stole $16.7M from Southern California school district gets 6 years

The former senior director of fiscal services at a school district in Orange County who pleaded guilty to embezzling almost $17 million over several years from the schools he was hired to serve was sentenced Thursday to five years and eight months in federal prison, officials announced.

Jorge Armando Contreras, a 53-year-old resident of Yorba Linda, was hired by the Magnolia School District, which serves students in Anaheim and Stanton, in 2006 to manage the district’s financial operations, according to a Department of Justice, Central District of California, news release .

During his tenure in that position, prosecutors say Contreras wrote checks in small dollar amounts to “M S D,” with the letters spaced out.

After receiving proper signatures from authorized personnel, he would then insert fictitious names, increase the amount of the checks and deposit them into his personal bank account using ATMs.

The 53-year-old would provide falsified bank statements and records to the schools to conceal his fraud, authorities said.

In total, Contreras embezzled $16,694,942 from the school district, where more than 80% of the preschool through sixth-grade student body is classified as socio-economically disadvantaged.

“Law enforcement so far has seized approximately $7.7 million in personal and real property traced to the scheme, including a home in Yorba Linda, a 2021 BMW automobile, 57 luxury designer bags (mostly Louis Vuitton), various pieces of jewelry, designer clothes and shoes, and eight bottles of Clase Azul Ultra luxury tequila,” the release noted.

He was placed on administrative leave in August 2023 and avoided being detained pre-sentencing by posting a $450,000 bond.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter ordered Contreras to pay the exact amount he embezzled 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,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a news release .

“Today’s sentence highlights my office’s determination to prosecute and punish those who betray the public trust – especially when their behavior affects some of our community’s most vulnerable members.”

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