A federal jury has convicted former New Mexico House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton in a sweeping corruption case involving millions of dollars intended for public-school career and technical education programs. Stapleton and her longtime friend, business owner Joseph Johnson, were found guilty on every federal count they faced. The charges included bribery, mail fraud, money laundering, false tax returns, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Stapleton spent decades in Democratic politics, representing New Mexico’s 19th House District from 1995 until 2021 and serving as majority floor leader from 2017 through 2021. At the same time, she worked for Albuquerque Public Schools as director of the Perkins Project and the district’s career and technical education coordinator. Prosecutors said she used those positions to direct taxpayer money toward Johnson’s Washington, D.C.-based company, Robotics Management Learning Systems.
The verdict followed a nine-day federal trial during which prosecutors described an arrangement that operated from 2013 through 2021. Robotics sold and supported CyberQuest software used in Albuquerque classrooms, while Stapleton controlled the school district funding and procurement process that steered business to the company. Prosecutors said approximately 40% of the district’s non-personnel career and technical education budget went to Robotics during that period.
As KRQE reported, jurors began deliberating Thursday afternoon and returned guilty verdicts against both defendants on Friday. Stapleton was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the federal government, five bribery counts, 13 counts of mail fraud and honest services fraud, three false tax return counts, nine money-laundering counts, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Johnson was convicted of a similar collection of fraud, bribery, and money laundering offenses.
The Justice Department said Albuquerque Public Schools paid Robotics approximately $3.25 million under contracts for its software and related services, including roughly $2.52 million drawn from federal Perkins funds. Stapleton reviewed and approved the company’s invoices while directing employees under her supervision to approve them. She also retrieved school district checks from a post office box and deposited them into the Robotics bank account.
Johnson supplied Stapleton with blank checks from that account, according to the evidence presented at trial. Stapleton then used those checks to obtain approximately $1.15 million, representing about 38% of all the money Albuquerque Public Schools paid to Robotics. Prosecutors traced roughly $286,772 to S. Williams & Associates, $313,123 to a restaurant owned by Stapleton, and $479,961 to the Ujima Foundation, a nonprofit controlled by Stapleton and Johnson. Another $72,649 paid for goods and services benefiting Stapleton, including remodeling work at her home.
Federal investigators also examined how the Ujima Foundation used its money. Although the organization was ostensibly created to address educational, economic, health, and social issues affecting New Mexico’s minority communities, prosecutors said its bank records showed only about $2,000 went toward scholarships while hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed through its accounts. Stapleton and Johnson also concealed their financial relationship, while Stapleton failed to report substantial Robotics income on state financial disclosures and federal tax returns.
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“After decades in public service, the defendant chose to put her own financial interests ahead of the students, taxpayers and institutions she was entrusted to serve,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison said following the verdict.
IRS Criminal Investigation Phoenix Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown described the operation as “an elaborate web of fraud, kickbacks, and money laundering,” while Justin A. Garris, special agent in charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, said no position of authority provides “immunity from accountability.” Stapleton was released pending sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled, and the Justice Department said she faces a combined statutory maximum of 524 years in federal prison.
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