The former senior director of fiscal services at a school district in Orange County has pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $16 million over several years from the schools he was hired to serve, federal authorities announced Thursday.
Jorge Armando Contreras, a 53-year-old resident of Yorba Linda, was hired by the Magnolia School District, which serves students in Anaheim and Stanton, in 2006 to manage the district’s financial operations, according to a Department of Justice, Central District of California, news release .
During his tenure in that position, prosecutors say Contreras wrote checks in small dollar amounts to “M S D,” with the letters spaced out.
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After receiving proper signatures from authorized personnel, he would then insert fictitious names, increase the amount of the checks and deposit them into his personal bank account using ATMs.
The 53-year-old would provide falsified bank statements and records to the schools to conceal his fraud, authorities said.