Jorge Armando Contreras apparently enjoys life beyond being fiscal director for the 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.
He also had piles of cash stuffed into Louis Vuitton purses and a mini-fridge at his 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 school district, for grades preschool through sixth, typically serves students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds in Anaheim and Stanton, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California announced in a press release.
From September 2016 to July 2023, Contreras committed theft as director of fiscal services. He deposited more than 250 checks into his personal Wells Fargo bank account, according to a photo of the drive-through ATM included in the criminal complaint, and then provided the school district with false bank records.
In just 11 months, Contreras stole more than $4.1 million, according to court documents. At the same time, he withdrew $325,000 from various ATMs, transferred more than $130,000 to his spouse before marriage and charged $1.9 million on American Express credit cards.
He gave checks to his superiors to deposit small amounts from the school account he claimed to correct payroll errors and for school fundraising, according to court records. They will later change the check amount. The check was originally made out to “MSD” with a large space between the letters, but he changed it to “Maria Socorro Dominguez” the prosecutor said, but there is no employee in the school district with that name.
Photos of designer bags filled with cash are evidence against Jorge Armando Contreras, a former school official accused of embezzling more than $16 million from the Magnolia School District.
(US Attorney’s Office)
Between November 2018 and May 2023, Contreras wired more than $150,000 to multiple banks in Mexico, prosecutors said. In a note for one wire transfer, Contreras wrote “home construction,” and in another he wrote “construction stairs and windows,” according to court documents, and the $5,000 wire transfer in 2022 was only noted as a “luxury jacket.”
Prosecutors claim 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 staging “the best musical productions and live events,” according to court records.
Contreras gave school officials a $25 Starbucks gift card as a Christmas present signed with JC Productions. One school official said he saw a JC Productions billboard in the school district promoting a musical act, prosecutors said.
Federal agents who searched Contrera’s Yorba Linda home on October 19, 2023, found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, a designer bag and eight bottles of Clase Azul Ultra Tequila, worth about $1,800 a bottle.
Federal agents seized 33 Louis Vuitton bags, purses and wallets, along with Cartier, David Yurman and Versace jewelry, 11 pairs of designer shoes and accessories, according to court records.
Contreras pleaded guilty March 28 to one count of embezzlement, theft and intentional misapplication of funds from an organization that receives federal funds, according to federal prosecutors.
“Instead of using his job in the public school district to help children with socioeconomic disabilities, Contreras embezzled millions upon millions of dollars, which he openly spent on luxury homes, cars, and designer clothes and accessories,” said Atty. ACE. Martin Estrada said in a statement.
Authorities said they were able to recover about $7.7 million in property and personal belongings traced to the scheme. At Contreras’ sentencing, U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter ordered him to pay $16,694,942 in restitution.
