[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire.]
By Adam Andrzejewski
Real Clear Wire
The senior director of fiscal services at the Magnolia School District in Orange County, California, embezzled more than $14 million over seven years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged.
Jorge Armando Contreras was charged with a felony of embezzling from programs receiving federal money, and was jailed without bond, The Orange County Register reported.
Contreras allegedly using the money to pay $1.9 million to American Express, transferred more than $130,000 to a person he would later marry, bought a BMW SUV and withdrew $325,000 in cash from ATMs.
He also allegedly used some of the money to pay $190,000 to a West Hollywood dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon and to buy Versace and Louis Vuitton luxury items, prosecutors claim.
Contreras wrote more than 260 checks to fictitious people — ranging from $11,000 to $95,000 — that were deposited into his personal bank account, according to the charges.
The school district official changed documents to hide the embezzlement, and some of the money was transferred to bank accounts in Mexico, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege in 2020, Contreras bought a house in Yorba Linda and paid for more than $1 million of it through a wire transfer from a personal bank account. He also allegedly changed bank statements for a loan application to hide the embezzled funds.
Now, the district is trying to recover and freeze about $4 million of the federal funds that were stolen. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said 81% of the children in the school district are classified as socio-economically disadvantaged, so the district receives millions of dollars in federal funds every year.
How a person could steal $14 million over seven years with no one noticing means the district should have more checks in place and Contreras should never again be trusted with other peoples’ money.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
IMPORTANT NOTE TO WND READERS: Shortly after Hamas terrorists fired over 5,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7 and then proceeded to attack the Jewish state by land, sea and air – torturing, burning, beheading and murdering well over a thousand people, including women, children and infants, and wounding and abducting hundreds more – world reaction was, in its own way, almost equally shocking.
For after the biggest one-day mass slaughter of Jews since the Nazi Holocaust, what followed was an outpouring of celebratory demonstrations, unbridled Jew-hatred, deliriously gleeful support for Hamas and bitter condemnation of the nation of Israel. Not just in the Arab-Muslim world, but throughout the Western world as well, including all across America.
Why? What is behind the explosion of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, pro-terror sentiment in the United States, where Israel has long been one of America’s closest friends and allies? Why are hordes of young “woke” LGBT demonstrators marching in support of Hamas – when Hamas wouldn’t think twice about binding and blindfolding them and throwing them off the roof of a tall building – as they routinely do in the Muslim world?
It turns out there’s one area of agreement that is so powerful, deep-seated and all-consuming that the vast differences between the deranged left and the murderous jihadists melt away into Kumbaya harmony.
All of this and much more is completely exposed in November’s issue of WND’s critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled ISRAEL VS. GLOBAL JIHAD: How Jew-hatred, radical Islam and Leftism are pushing us toward World War III. Beyond a deeply insightful dive into why leftists are surging toward radical Islam – which hates and dreams of raping and butchering them – this Whistleblower issue includes fantastic articles by everyone from top Israeli analyst (and former Israel Defense Forces officer) Caroline Glick to Harvest Christian Fellowship’s Pastor Greg Laurie on the current war in Israel and biblical prophecies regarding the End Times … which he says are now upon us.
WHISTLEBLOWER is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.
For 25 years, WND has boldly brought you the news that really matters. If you appreciate our Christian journalists and their uniquely truthful reporting and analysis, please help us by becoming a WND Insider!
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
