Former Española city manager accused of stealing $18K

A former Española city manager was charged Thursday for allegedly stealing about $18,000 in checks and cash from the city in 2019.

A criminal compliant filed by the New Mexico Attorney General’s office alleges that David Valdez stole a bank bag containing the cash and checks from Española City Hall just 10 days after he started work as city manager in April 2019.

Investigators with the Attorney General’s office also found that Valdez lost nearly $20,000 at three New Mexico casinos from March to May 2019, according to the criminal complaint.

“After an analysis and comparison of Valdez’s financial statements and casino records, it appeared that Valdez had an obsessive gambling habit,” the complaint alleges.

“Documents showed that Valdez had a consistent spending pattern when he received income, legally or illegally, indicating he immediately gambled a majority of those funds at the casinos,” it said.

Valdez was charged Thursday in 1st Judicial District court with larceny of $2,500 to $20,000 and misuse and deposit of public money, both felonies.

Court records show that Valdez, who now lives in Colorado City, Colorado, had been convicted of theft charges for crimes that occurred before he was hired as Española’s city manager on April 1, 2019.

He was fired during a closed executive city council meeting on July 9, 2019.

Valdez did not immediately respond to voicemail messages left Thursday, and it’s unclear if he has an attorney.

In September 2019, the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office filed felony charges of theft and embezzlement of public property against Valdez for alleged thefts that occurred while he was employed as district manager for the Colorado City Metropolitan District, according to the criminal complaint.

Valdez resigned his post with Colorado City in October 2018.

Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office investigators told New Mexico Attorney General officials that Valdez had been investigated in two separate matters involving fraud and embezzlement in Colorado City, the complaint said.

On July 10, 2020, Valdez pleaded guilty to felony theft of between $20,000 and $100,000, the complaint said. He was ordered to pay restitution of about $25,000 and to perform 200 hours of community service.

The Española theft occurred about April 12, 2019, when city employees discovered the theft of a bank bag containing $18,224 in checks and cash payments made by utility customers missing from a vault at Española City Hall, the complaint said.

Investigators viewed security video showing that Valdez walked toward the back of the utilities office where the vault is located and returning two minutes later with a black leather case under his arm, the complaint alleges.

Of the four people observed alone in the vault on the day the bank bag went missing, “Valdez was the only person who does not have daily responsibilities in the vault or utilities office,” the complaint said.

Based on the evidence, “it is both probable and reasonable that Valdez had both the means and the opportunity to steal the City Hall utilities deposit from the vault on April 12, 2019,” it said.

Records recovered by the New Mexico Attorney General’s office show that in the days after the utility deposits were reported stolen, Valdez lost a total of $4,801 at New Mexico casinos from April 15-25, 2019, the complaint said.