Embezzlement goes back 2 years
City clerk cashed checks in 2003

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Former City Clerk Ruth Ruiz's embezzlement of public funds goes back further than the last municipal elections in March, according to recently released city documents.

Just how far back, city officials say they don't yet know.

Ruiz resigned March 20 when Assistant City Manager Larry Binkley presented her with evidence of her fraud, after more than 23 years in the post and a few years shy of retirement.

After dropping his "personal reasons" explanation for her sudden departure a week ago, City Manager Eric Honeyfield said that an investigation of the March 1 council elections revealed four people Ruiz listed as poll workers but never worked or received their $110 checks. The checks, he said, went straight into Ruiz's personal bank account.

According to copies of the four checks The Independent recently obtained, however, only two of those checks were written during the 2005 election. The other two date back to the municipal elections of March, 2003, the elections that brought Mayor Bob Rosebrough and Councilors Mary Ann Armijo and Frank Gonzales to office.

Of the two 2003 checks, according to Honeyfield, Ruiz cashed one at City Hall and deposited the other into her account. He said she voided the two 2005 checks after learning about the investigation.

It was the 2005 checks, Honeyfield said, that prompted him and Binkley to investigate the previous election.

"After we saw these questionable checks for 2005, we got to thinking, did this go back further?" he said.

But the statute of limitations, which prevents prosecution of misdemeanors such as the embezzlement of $110 checks after two years, kept the city from peering into Ruiz's past even further, he said. Because the city hasn't looked, however, it doesn't know how far back Ruiz's embezzlement stretches, or if she tried embezzling even larger sums, which could extend the statute of limitations.

Honeyfield said the city might get a better glimpse of the past from its annual, independent audit. He was vague, however, about how far back even they would go.

"They will go back as far as they deem is necessary," he said.

He said the city and the auditors would decide what "necessary" means once they get started.

City Attorney George Kozeliski said the auditors will arrive in a few weeks and likely take a few months to finish their work.

Waiting for the results of the annual audit, Honeyfield said, "will give us our best independent opinion of exactly what took place."

The city is not revealing the names on the checks either. Kozeliski claims the individuals' privacy rights protect their identities. Bob Johnson, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, disagrees. As listed contracted employees, the poll workers whether or not they ended up working or receiving payment cannot have their identities kept a secret by the city, he said.

Kozeliski did say that none of the four individuals were city employees or knew they were on Ruiz's list. But when asked if any of them were related to Ruiz, he declined to comment.

Honeyfield did admit to a fifth check that went to Ruiz's 17-year-old grandson. Although he did work the polls March 1 and received his money, he was too young to legally hold the job.