Former high-ranking Democratic legislator in New Mexico convicted in federal fraud case

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A former high-ranking New Mexico Democratic legislator has been convicted of dozens of federal charges stemming from a yearslong scheme to divert money from public schools to a friend’s company in exchange for kickbacks.

Jurors reached the verdict Friday, following a trial that included testimony from Sheryl Williams Stapleton’s former colleagues, investigators and tax experts. Williams Stapleton, who declined to testify, could face 20 years in federal prison when sentenced.

A grand jury indicted Williams Stapleton, 69, in March 2024 on more than three dozen counts that included bribery, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the federal government.

Those were on top of money laundering, racketeering and other charges filed in 2021 by state prosecutors. A trial in that case is scheduled for October.

A former state House majority leader and an administrator with the state’s largest public school district, in Albuquerque, Williams Stapleton was first elected in 1994. She resigned from the House two days after search warrants were served at her home during summer 2021, and Albuquerque Public Schools fired her.

Prosecutors said the district paid more than $3 million to Robotics Management Learning Systems LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based company at the center of the state and federal cases. Most of that money came from federal funds meant for vocational education programs.

As the school district’s career and technical education director, Williams Stapleton made sure money for those programs went to Robotics, which was owned by her friend and co-defendant Joseph Johnson, prosecutors said.

Williams Stapleton was accused of ushering the company’s invoices through the procurement process. Johnson was accused of providing blank checks to Williams Stapleton, who in turn wrote about 230 checks totaling $1,152,506 “for her own benefit,” according to the indictment.

Johnson testified Tuesday that he was unaware that Williams Stapleton withdrew more than $1 million from his company’s checking accounts between 2013 and 2020. He claimed that he lost focus on the business after his son was killed in a car crash in 2016.

Johnson told jurors that he relied on his office manager and that she was the one who mailed the blank checks to Williams Stapleton. Johnson was found guilty of the same charges as Williams Stapleton.

Williams Stapleton’s attorney, Ryan Villa, told jurors that his client stole money from Johnson’s company but did not steal from state and federal taxpayers as alleged by prosecutors.

Prosecutors also presented evidence that both Williams Stapleton and Johnson failed to report thousands of dollars in payments from Robotics on their federal income tax returns.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Federici said at the start of the trial that about 73% of the more than $3 million the company received from the school district and federal vocational training funds was profit. He said the co-defendants split that for their own use.

Investigators found that most of the money in Robotics’ checking account came from federal education funds the company obtained through contracts with the school district. Prosecutors presented video from a stakeout of the company’s Albuquerque post office box that showed Williams Stapleton checking the company’s mail.