Former N.M. state lawmaker Williams Stapleton indicted on 28 counts

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Former House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton — as recently as two months ago one of New Mexico’s most influential politicians — could face 79 years in prison if convicted on all 28 criminal counts handed down by a grand jury on Monday.

Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, was indicted on racketeering, money laundering and fraud charges in connection with what prosecutors have called an elaborate scheme to financially gain from a deal she helped broker with a Washington, D.C.-based company through her position as the head of the Career and Technical Education department at Albuquerque Public Schools, her employer. She recently was fired from the school district.

All but two of the charges are felonies, and four charges carry a sentence of nine years of imprisonment and fines up to $10,000. Many of the others carry a basic sentence of 18 months and fines not to exceed $5,000. One of the counts, a second-degree felony charge of racketeering, states Williams Stapleton was “associated with a criminal enterprise.” Other charges include:

Five counts of money laundering that add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in diverted funds from the school district to “entities with which she [Williams Stapleton] was associated.”
One count of fraud, alleging Williams Stapleton tried to cheat the district, resulting in her receiving “over $20,000, [in] money that belonged to someone other than her.”
One charge of soliciting or receiving an illegal kickback “in cash or in kind” from Robotics Learning Management LLC, the East Coast company that provided web-based learning materials to the district, in return for arranging or recommending the purchase, lease or ordering of the company’s goods by Albuquerque Public Schools.

Williams Stapleton, 64, has denied any wrongdoing but resigned from her legislative seat in late July, saying she would put all her efforts into fighting the charges. Her lawyer, Ahmed Assed of Albuquerque, did not return a call seeking comment.

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/former-state-lawmaker-williams-stapleton-indicted-on-28-counts/article_ffba17c4-1a2f-11ec-8c45-d3b644960660.html