EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A former Valentine Independent School District employee pleaded guilty to charges related to his scheme to fraudulently misappropriate school district funds for personal expenses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas announced.
According to court records, Ernesto Villarreal Jr., 43, of Marfa, was employed as the business manager and served as the tax collector and assessor for Valentine ISD, in Valentine, Texas.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Villarreal schemed to defraud Valentine ISD by using two district credit cards to make hundreds of unauthorized personal purchases, totaling thousands of dollars.
Villarreal also issued over $10,000 in unauthorized checks to himself from district accounts; issued over $20,000 in unauthorized checks from Valentine ISD accounts to cover personal expenses owed to a credit card company; and changed the bank account information for certain current and former employees, and then generated over $100,000 in fraudulent payments to those current and former employees, for work that did not actually occur, all according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Villarreal had payments made to those employees and former employees routed to his own personal bank accounts, without their knowledge, the U.S. Attorney’s Office added.
Valentine is located about 160 miles southeast of El Paso.
Villarreal used the “ill-gotten funds for hundreds of personal purchases, including but not limited to purchases for travel, lodging, home improvements, hardware store purchases, personal cell phone bills, fuel, oil changes, convenience store purchases, Airbnb rentals, personal flight purchases, and various other unauthorized purchases,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Villarreal is believed to have caused over $300,000 in losses to Valentine ISD.
Villarreal pleaded guilty to one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and eight counts of wire fraud.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 21, 2025. Villarreal faces up to 10 years in prison for the theft count and up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Read: Read More