Feds seek funds allegedly tied to former House leader

Mar. 21—Federal officials in New Mexico are seeking the forfeiture of $455,000 in accounts seized last year in connection with felony charges against former House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico has asked a federal judge to order the forfeiture, alleging in a complaint that funds held in five accounts were unlawfully obtained from federal grant programs.

Stapleton was indicted last year in 2nd Judicial District Court on 26 state felony charges, including racketeering, money laundering and fraud.

The charges stem from her alleged role in routing money intended for vocational education at Albuquerque Public Schools to businesses and charities in which she had an interest.

Stapleton and her attorney, Ahmad Assed, say she is innocent of any criminal activity and intends to clear her name in court.

FBI agents in September seized $452,419 held by the state District Court in Albuquerque after it was seized earlier by New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas' office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Kotz filed a civil complaint this month asking a federal judge in Albuquerque to order the forfeiture of those funds.

The March 12 complaint also seeks $2,750 held in a separate account and a 2017 Volvo XC60 "derived from proceeds traceable to an offense" in violation of federal law.

Assed said most of the money sought in the forfeiture was in accounts controlled by Robotics Management Learning Systems LLC, a Washington, D.C., firm paid by APS to provide software and training for teachers and students in the district's career technical education program.

"I'm sure that the bulk of the monies that are sought for forfeiture — a good portion of the $452,000 that they are referencing — have nothing to do with Sheryl," Assed said.

"We are going to put forward our efforts at defending against items that are in fact related to Sheryl that we feel the government should not be able to forfeit," he said. "And I believe there are inaccuracies in this complaint."

A message left Friday for Robotics' attorney Marc Lowry was not returned.

Stapleton was an APS employee and coordinator of the district's career technical education program, which received funding from the federal Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act.

The complaint alleges that a substantial part of the money held in those accounts was obtained from federal funds.

One of the accounts was opened in July 2007 in the Robotics name, the complaint alleges. The firm also opened a PO box in Albuquerque. APS sent 52 payments to that PO box totalling $3,044,450 from April 2013 to March 2020.

The complaint also alleges that Robotics made sizable deposits into bank accounts opened in the names of a business and a charity in which Stapleton had an interest.

Stapleton's family restaurant, A Taste of the Caribbean, opened a bank account in October 2015, the complaint said.

Bank records showed that Robotics made 56 deposits totalling $313,000 from 2015 to 2018, it said.

Stapleton opened another bank account in April 2009 under the account title UJIMA Foundation/Charlie Morrisey, which state records identify as a charitable nonprofit corporation, the complaint said. Bank records show that Robotics made 96 deposits totalling $417,660 to that account between 2013 and 2019, it said.

A Democrat and longtime representative, Stapleton resigned from the Legislature in July two days after agents from the Attorney General's Office served search warrants at her home, family business and offices.

Sheryl Williams Stapleton