ALPINE, Texas - A former Valentine Independent School District employee pleaded guilty to charges related to his scheme to fraudulently misappropriate school district funds for personal expenses.

According to court records, Ernesto Villarreal Jr., 43, of Marfa, was employed as the Business Manager and served as the Tax Collector and Assessor for the Valentine ISD, in Valentine, TX. During his time as an agent of Valentine ISD, Villarreal schemed to defraud Valentine ISD by using two ISD credit cards to make hundreds of unauthorized personal purchases totaling thousands of dollars; issued over $10,000 in unauthorized checks to himself from Valentine ISD accounts; issued over $20,000 in unauthorized checks from Valentine ISD accounts to cover personal expenses owed to a credit card company; and changed the bank account information for certain current and former employees, and then generated over $100,000 in fraudulent payments to those current and former employees, for work that did not actually occur, which payments Villarreal routed to his own personal bank accounts, all without the knowledge or permission of the employees.

Villarreal used the ill-gotten funds for hundreds of personal purchases, including but not limited to purchases for travel, lodging, home improvements, hardware store purchases, personal cell phone bills, fuel, oil changes, convenience store purchases, Airbnb rentals, personal flight purchases, and various other unauthorized purchases. Villarreal is believed to have caused over $300,000 in losses to Valentine ISD.

Villarreal pleaded guilty to one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and eight counts of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 21, 2025. Villarreal faces up to 10 years in prison for the theft count and up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

The FBI is investigating the case, assisted by the Texas Rangers and the Department of Education Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Fedock and Scott Greenbaum are prosecuting the case.

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