2. Tots account was being spent,
the News-Bulletin request-
ed bank statements, receipts
and any other documentation
pertaining to donations and
expenditures to and from that
account.
According to its bank state-
ments,theToysforTotsaccount
has brought in $8,485.50 in
donations since Oct. 2, 2008,
and spent $8,341.35. That is a
difference of $144.15, the bal-
ance shown on the statement
dated July 31.
Statements were turned
over going back to October
2008, when the account was
established at My Bank. Those
statements revealed expendi-
tures out of the Toys for Tots
account that didn’t seem to be
for either toys or tots.
Two such expenditures
were made on Feb. 12, 2009.
Checks in the amounts of
$100 and $6.43 were written
to a local business, English
Gardens. The memo line on
the checks said “Purdy” and
“bow/Purdy.” They were both
signed by sheriff’s department
employee Jody Skelton, one of
two signers on the account.
When asked, Skelton said
the money was spent on a
funeral floral arrangement
for Lt. James C. Purdy and a
mourning bow for the office
doors.
“He did a tremendous
amount for Toys for Tots.
I felt then and still do now
that without him, we might
not have even had Toys for
Tots,” Skelton said. “Whoever
is playing Santa now has some
big shoes to fill.”
Purdy died suddenly in
February 2009. According to
Skelton, Purdy played Santa
Claus during the annual Toys
for Tots toy distribution for
many, many years.
Rivera said he also support-
ed the expenditure in honor of
Purdy.
“He played Santa for a very
long time. He was part of Toys
for Tots for years,” the sheriff
said. “We needed to do some-
thing for Purdy. He volun-
teered his time and was there
for the kids.”
Another sheriff’s deputy
who was honored posthu-
mously from the Toys for Tots
bank account was Deputy
Damacio Montaño, who was
with the department for about
10 months when he was shot
and killed in October 2002.
“He helped us with the
Santa Claus stuff,” Rivera said.
“Both he and Purdy played
Santa Claus.”
When the sheriff’s sub-
station in the Jose Dolores
Cordova Cultural Center in
Jarales was dedicated to the
memory of Montaño in April,
the department spent $315.13
for such items as a picture
frame, plaque, table cloth and
other items for the ceremony,
again out of the Toys for Tots
account.
Suzie Sanchez, an adminis-
trative assistant with the sher-
iff’s department and cosigner
on the checking account, was
the one who made the pur-
chases and cash withdrawals
for the event. Sanchez said the
money spent for Montaño was
just like the flowers and ribbon
for Purdy.
“He played Santa Claus and
volunteered for Toys for Tots,”
Sanchez said.
Another cash withdrawal
by Sanchez was for $50 on
February 24. The notation on
the bank statement read “Rene
flowers donation.” That money
was used to help pay for an
$80 funeral arrangement from
Adobe Flowers and Gifts.
Thearrangementwassentto
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
in Albuquerque and delivered
on February 24 before the 6
p.m. rosary for Leo Chavez,
Rivera’s nephew.
The receipt shows the card
with the flowers read, “Sorry
for your loss. Our prayers are
with you. The Valencia County
Sheriff’s Department.”
Sanchez said the money
was contributed in apprecia-
tion of all the help Rivera had
given to Toys for Tots.
“We were just thanking the
people who helped,” she said.
“Without them, there probably
wouldn’t be a Toys for Tots.”
Sanchez said the sheriff and
administrative undersheriff,
Rick Garcia, oversaw and were
aware of everything that goes
on with the account.
Rivera said he didn’t know
anything about the $50 for the
flowers for his nephew.
“I don’t think the sheriff’s
department sent anything for
my nephew,” he said.
Former Sheriff Richard
Perea said that during his four
years in office, the money
donated and raised for Toys for
Tots was spent on gifts to be
distributed.
“It was for any kind of
expense for the gifts. We
bought wrapping paper, tape
and toys. Batteries — lots of
batteries, but we never used
it for anything such as that,”
Perea said, when asked for his
opinion of the expenditures for
Purdy, Montaño and Rivera’s
nephew.
Frequent contributor to Toys
for Tots, local attorney David
Chavez, said the program had
always been advertised as one
that bought toys for children
in need.
“Toys for Tots is a well
known activity that asked for
donations from community
sponsors, either toys or money
donations,” Chavez said. “I
would expect that they would
conduct themselves how they
represented themselves to the
community.
“These kinds of expenses
obviously aren’t Toys for Tots,
and obviously not how it was
intended to be used. I would
expect that they will clean this
up and do what they need to do
to get back on track. I expect
them to use the money for
the intended purpose it was
donated for and do a better job
in the future.”
Chavez said he would con-
tinue to donate funds to the
program.
Perea did say that some of
the money was used for food
for the volunteers, an expense
that has continued over the last
two years.
In 2008, Skelton spent $160
at Pizza Hut for volunteers,
and Sanchez spent $60 in 2009
at Chili’s.
“We had a ton of people that
year. Deputies, their wives and
kids, the Explorers,” Skelton
said.
“It’s one of the only ways
we can thank people,” Sanchez
said. “It’s hard to get volun-
teers.”
After reviewing the bank
statements and receipts provid-
ed by the sheriff’s department,
the newspaper had questions
about other expenses including
cash withdrawals. On Dec. 18,
2008, Skelton withdrew $58
from the account.
“That was for walkie-talk-
ies on the day we passed out
the toys. We set up at the
bottom of the stairs in the old
courthouse and all the toys
are upstairs in hundreds of
bags. The bags have numbers
on them that were assigned
to families,” she said. “They
don’t come in in number order,
so as they check in we needed
to have a way to call upstairs
and let the volunteers know
which numbers were coming
in. It’s hard to get (cell) recep-
tion in there and we couldn’t
run up and down the stairs
because they were covered in
stuffed animals.”
The handhelds were pur-
chased at Big 5 Sporting Goods
in Los Lunas, Skelton said.
The day before that, Skelton
said she spent $59.97 at Adobe
Flowers on additional decora-
tions for the scene the volun-
teers set up for Santa and his
elves as they give away the
gifts.
There were three cash with-
drawals made by Sanchez in
2009 totalling $140. Notes on
the bank statements said they
were for “check cashing for
department.”
Sanchez said because there
is another account at My Bank,
the forfeitures and seizures
account that is administered
by the sheriff’s department,
sometimes there would be a
“mix up” and the checks would
be deposited in the wrong
account.
“And the only way to cash
checks for that account is to
deposit them and then do a
withdrawal,” she said.
On November 20 and
December 18 of last year, there
were $40 cash withdrawals,
noted to be “check cashing for
department.” According to the
bank statements, there were
corresponding $40 deposits on
the same day as the withdraw-
als.
On October 30, $60 was
withdrawn from the Toys for
Tots account by Sanchez and
was noted as “check cashing
for department,” but no cor-
responding deposit was shown
on the statements.
There was also $100 with-
drawn from the account on
Dec. 15, 2009. Sanchez said
that was necessary to contin-
ue buying toys because when
she tried to write checks, they
were being declined.
“There were too many
checks out and they weren’t
being processed fast enough,”
she said. “So a couple of
checks were declined.”
While unable to speak about
the Toys for Tots account spe-
cifically, My Bank president
Edward Archuleta said a non-
profit checking account such
as the Toys for Tots account
did not have a limit on the
number of checks that could be
written on it during a monthly
period.
There were two checks
written by Skelton that she
says were for items for fund-
raising efforts. In February
2009, Skelton wrote a $150
check to Octa Gillen with a
note of “tent” on the memo
line. Gillen is a records clerk
for the sheriff’s department.
“She found what I call a
small event tent online. Since
she already had a PayPal
account set up, she made the
purchase,” Skelton said. “We
used the tent at things like
the Bosque Farms Fair and
the balloon rally. That way
we had a semi-secure place to
store things we were selling
and looked a little more profes-
sional.”
What they were selling was
$290.60 worth of merchandise
from Oriental Trading Co. as
well as drinks in refillable
cups. The items from the trad-
ing company could be pur-
chased cheaply enough that
they could be resold at a profit,
Skelton said.
“Little things kids like to
buy,” she said. “We also used
leftover items at a duck pond
during the Bosque Farms Fair.
All the money we raised went
back into the Toys for Tots
account.”
On Jan. 18, 2009, Skelton
wrote a check for $40 cash
with a note on the memo line
reading “repayment to finger-
print.” When asked, she said it
was repayment to the depart-
ment’s fingerprint, or petty
cash, account that had been
borrowed the previous year to
get Toys for Tots started.
“We started off with zero
dollars, so we borrowed from
the fingerprint account,” she
said. “Rene and Rick said we
needed to pay it back, so we
did.”
While that was a loan,
Rivera said in years past
the sheriff’s department has
donated directly to the Toys
for Tots account. On a deposit
slip for $1,000 dated Nov. 14,
2008, there is a notation indi-
cating the funds came from
the department’s forfeitures
and seizures account.
“Whenever we have money,
we donate. The deputies have
also donated their money and
time,” Rivera said.
Since questions have been
raised over the use of those
funds, questions Rivera say are
“politically motivated,” he says
he might just drop the program
this year.
“All of this is politically
motivated, and I might need
to let things go and just do this
December without Christmas,”
he said.
LOCAL Valencia County News-Bulletin6A August 25, 2010
Toys: Sheriff says questions raised are ‘politically motivated,’ program might end
from PAGE 1A
Wood said he met with a
company earlier this month and
representatives came down and
toured the city and area. He
said a European solar compa-
ny has expressed interest in
Rancho Cielo for a manufactur-
ing facility and solar farm.
“We have turned down
five different offers from solar
farms. Once they are complet-
ed, there are really only two or
three jobs,” he said. “The con-
struction would bring in some
jobs, but once it’s built they’re
gone. We still want to bring in
the jobs that go along with a
manufacturing plant.”
Wood pointed out that Signet
was not alone in it’s struggles to
get funding. He said a 92 mega-
watt solar facility in El Paso
had its loan guarantee turned
down by the Department of
Energy as well.
Since the interchange proj-
ect was postponed in January,
Wood says he has been working
with BNSF and companies that
need rail service.
“We are preparing a pro-
motional video extolling the
virtues of Belen’s location,
workforce, job market, prox-
imity to Albuquerque and the
University of New Mexico,” he
said.
Later this month, Wood said
he will be hosting an invitation-
only viewing of the video for
companies that have expressed
interest in working with Rancho
Cielo and BNSF.
“These are non-solar com-
panies who have expressed an
interest,” he said. “I can’t give
any names right now. I don’t
want to build up false hopes.”
Wood said New Mexico
Development Partners will
have an engineer start an analy-
sis this week of what it will cost
to complete the interchange.
Councilor Jerah Cordova
said the $3 million legislative
appropriation for a solar project
in Belen became tied to Signet
after the council passed two
ordinances. He pointed out that
the council has discussed possi-
bly repealing those ordinances
so the city can use the money
for any company.
Wood said Italian and
Spanish solar companies have
expressed interest in moving
their operations to the U.S.
since China has become a dom-
inant force in the solar market
in Europe.
Cordova said that they would
still have to go through the
process of forming the three-
party agreement with any new
company.
“Some feel the current
agreement is already null and
void,” Cordova said.
Wood said he doesn’t con-
sider that to be the case.
“We still want to see it in
place. We have been talking
to various companies about
coming to Belen and Rancho
Cielo,” he said. “A rejection of
the agreement sends the wrong
message. I hope that doesn’t
happen. We intend to fulfill
our end.”
Cordova referenced the
ongoing corridor study that
is trying to determine if and
where to put access from I-25 to
N.M. 47, east of the river, say-
ing there were three proposed
corridors for a river crossing.
“Are you advocating any
particular one?” he asked.
Wood said the southern-
most one would tie in to the
development’s major residen-
tial and retail site, and the 20
acres it has pledged to donate to
UNM. Wood said the company
has also expressed a willing-
ness to participate in the build-
ing of another interchange for
the river crossing.
If the southern-most cor-
ridor, the Miller Road align-
ment, is chosen, Cordova asked
when Wood would anticipate
that coming into play with the
development, since the whole
project is phased.
Wood said three to five
years from now.
Cordova said there had
been a demand letter from the
Department of Transportation,
and asked the representative
at the meeting if the depart-
ment was looking at terminat-
ing the three-party agreement
between the city, the developer
and DOT.
Tamara Haas, in charge of
programs and scheduling for
the department, said in order to
move forward, the agreement
would need to be amended.
“Right now, it’s not good as
it is,” Haas said. “We will not
move forward unless funding
is in escrow, up front. As you
know, the building scope had
to be cut in half. To go forward
we need a new, modified agree-
ment.”
Wood concurred, saying
“The agreement should be
amended to make sure we have
the money.”
Interchange: Developer says others considering site
from PAGE 1A
“These kinds of expenses obviously aren’t
Toys for Tots, and obviously not how it
was intended to be used.”
DAVID CHAVEZ
Attorney and contributor
Market
Farmers'
Valencia County
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