Jorge Armando Contreras seemed to enjoy a life beyond the means of a fiscal director of an Orange County school district.
He wore designer clothes, drove a BMW X5 and bought a new $1.5 million home in Yorba Linda, according to federal prosecutors.
She also had bundles of cash stuffed into Louis Vuitton handbags and a mini-fridge at her home, federal prosecutors said.
Contreras, 53, was sentenced Thursday to nearly six years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling $16.7 million from the Magnolia School District. The preschool through sixth-grade school district primarily serves students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds in Anaheim and Stanton, the U.S. attorney's office for the Central District of California announced in a news release.
From September 2016 to July 2023, Contreras carried out his theft as director of fiscal services. He deposited more than 250 checks into his personal Wells Fargo bank account, according to ATM photos included in the criminal complaint, and then submitted falsified bank records to the school district.
In just 11 months, Contreras embezzled more than $4.1 million, according to court documents. During that same time, he withdrew $325,000 from various ATMs, wired more than $130,000 to his partner before they were married and paid $1.9 million with his American Express credit card.
According to court records, he would present checks to superiors to sign for small amounts from a school account that he claimed were intended to correct payroll errors and fundraise for the school. He would later alter the amounts on the checks. Initially, the checks were made out to “MSD” with large spaces between the letters, but he changed them to “Maria Socorro Dominguez,” prosecutors said, but there were no employees in the school district with that name.
Photographs of designer handbags filled with cash submitted as evidence against Jorge Armando Contreras, a former school official accused of embezzling more than $16 million from the Magnolia School District.
(United States Attorney's Office)
Between November 2018 and May 2023, Contreras wired more than $150,000 to various banks in Mexico, prosecutors said. On the notes for one of the transfers, Contreras wrote “house under construction” and on another he wrote “doors, stairs and window under construction,” according to court documents, and a $5,000 wire transfer in 2022 was simply noted as “fancy jackets.”
Prosecutors said Contreras also had a front production company that he used to explain his wealth. The company, JC Productions, was described in an Instagram post as organizing “top musical productions and live events,” according to court records.
Contreras gave school officials $25 Starbucks gift cards as Christmas gifts that he autographed with JC Productions. One school official said she saw a JC Productions billboard in the school district promoting a musical show, prosecutors said.
Federal agents who searched Contrera's Yorba Linda home on Oct. 19, 2023, found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, designer handbags and eight bottles of Clase Azul Ultra tequila, which costs about $1,800 a bottle.
Federal agents seized 33 Louis Vuitton handbags, wallets and purses, along with jewelry from Cartier, David Yurman and Versace, 11 pairs of designer shoes and accessories, according to court records.
Contreras pleaded guilty on March 28 to one count each of embezzlement, theft and intentional misappropriation of funds from an organization receiving federal funds, according to federal prosecutors.
“Instead of using his job at a public school district to help socioeconomically disadvantaged children, Contreras embezzled millions upon millions of dollars, which he shamelessly spent on a luxury home, a car, and designer clothing and accessories,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.
Authorities said they have been able to recover about $7.7 million in property and personal items related to the scheme. In sentencing Contreras, U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter ordered him to pay $16,694,942 in restitution.
