A former California public school official who embezzled more than $16 million from a school district and used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle was sentenced to nearly six years in prison this week, the New York Times reports. A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Jorge Armando Contreras, 53, who worked for the Magnolia School District in Orange County, to 70 months and ordered him to pay $16,694,942 in restitution. Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement that “instead of using his job at a public school district to help socioeconomically disadvantaged children,” Contreras had embezzled millions of dollars in a scheme that fraudulently created for him a life of opulence.
He used the money to buy a range of luxurious products like Louis Vuitton bags and $2,000 tequila bottles, according to the Justice Department. About $7.7 million in personal and real property traced to the scheme have been seized, officials said. While in various positions at the school, Contreras had access to several school district’s bank accounts and the student body’s bank account. Prosecutors said that Mr. Contreras would write checks to “M S D,” receive the required signatures from other officials and then increase the amounts on the checks before depositing them into his personal bank account.
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