SANTA FE, N.M., May 19 (UPI) -- A New Mexico woman who pleaded guilty to embezzlement spent much of the money she stole from a school district at casinos, records show.
Santa Fe District Attorney Angela Pacheco said her office has tracked more than $500,000 lost by Kathy Borrego and her husband and daughter at three casinos in the state since 2002, the Albuquerque Journal reported. Pacheco said Borrego also visited Las Vegas many times.
Borrego pleaded guilty to embezzling $3 million from the Jemez Mountain School District. She died a few days before her sentencing, apparently taking her own life.
Investigators said they believe Borrego began stealing from the district in 2001 and made off with $3.7 million. She could only be charged with theft from 2005 onward.
Pacheco's office said Borrego's method was simple. Investigators said she wrote at least 538 checks payable either to herself or to other people.
The school district operates a middle-high school and three elementary schools in a sparsely populated area northwest of Santa Fe.
