After the indictment of State Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, who was accused of embezzling millions of dollars from Albuquerque Public Schools (APS), the Board of Education has unanimously approved a new procurement policy intended to protect the district from fraud.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, APS Chief Financial Officer Tami Coleman said the purpose of the policy is to make sure school employees and others involved with purchases know the proper procedures. There was no policy in place prior to this vote.
“It really falls mostly on the procurement office to really lock in those internal controls that are necessary for us to assure that we follow good processes and that we are treating taxpayer funds with the utmost respect as they deserve," Coleman said.
APS Procurement Executive Director Rennette Apodaca said that while there has been no official policy, state and federal rules have been followed, so a lot was already in place. The Journal reported that the new policy will have any buying carried out competitively through the APS purchasing directive, while following all rules involving procurement.
Williams Stapleton is accused of using her position as director of Career and Technical Education to steal money from APS and re-direct it to herself. According to the KRQE, a warrant was executed in July on her home and businesses that found that she allegedly had stolen more than $5.3 million from the district over a 13-year period.
The warrant was issued after APS Superintendent Scott Elder tipped police and the attorney general’s office that he suspected Williams Stapleton was violating the Government Conduct Act. In a letter he wrote to the attorney general, he said that Williams Stapleton had made requests for procurement from a software company called Cyber Quest, which was developed by Robotics Management Learning System. He said these requests came without a proper request for proposal. Also, checks were being sent to a P.O. Box with the name of one of her children, David Henderson, whose Facebook page said he was a coordinator for Robotics.
The letter also said she requested procurement of services from TriTech Enterprises, owned by Randolph Williams. This software was to conduct teacher trainings in the Cyber Quest software, which Elder said appeared to have close ties to Robotics. He wrote in the letter that both companies were paid for the exact same trainings and he noted that not only was the frequency of training strange, but the software’s quality was “suspect.”
It was alleged that she convinced the school district to contract with the company, which was not legitimate, and was paid $5.3 million over those years.
KRQE reported that not only was Robotic paid by APS, but it is believed that 60% of the money, amounting to $954,386, between 2014 and 2021 was re-directed to Williams Stapleton's businesses. After the search warrant was conducted, the attorney general’s office quickly found evidence of racketeering, money laundering and kickbacks received by Williams Stapleton. It was alleged that she used her position in government power to funnel other state funds to nonprofit foundations she ran, as well.
Williams Stapleton was indicted by a grand jury on 28 charges in September, according to KRQE. Williams Stapleton, who was the House Majority Leader and served since 1995, resigned from the New Mexico Legislature in August. She was also discharged from her role at the APS. It was reported that she “adamantly maintains” her innocence.