- Stapleton works as director of the school district's Career and Technical Education and has been placed on administrative leave along with 11 others pending the investigation.
Details: A mislabeled invoice followed by persistent inquiries raised questions about Stapleton’s relationship with a contractor and her efforts to secure money that went to the contractor and four other entities linked to her.
- Documents say the contractor was paid more than $5 million dating back to 2006 and that more than $950,000 of that was funneled to the two businesses and two nonprofits with ties to Stapleton, per Albuquerque Journal investigative reporter Mike Gallagher.
- But investigators raised about the contractor's software meant for schools and its bank account.
- The New Mexico Attorney General's Offices raided Stapleton's home and office last week in connection with a warrant that accused her of stealing millions of dollars from taxpayers.
- Stapleton has not been charged with any crime.
Stapleton is the first Black woman elected to the New Mexico Legislature and was the second-highest-ranking leader in the New Mexico House.
What they're saying: "Ms. Williams Stapleton is eager to cooperate in the investigation to clear her name of any wrongdoing," Stapleton's attorney Ahmad Assed said in a statement.
- "Ms. Williams Stapleton adamantly maintains that innocence.”
Flashback:Stapleton was forced to apologize in 2011 to then-Gov. Susana Martinez after an outburst at the Capitol in which she accused a Republican lawmaker of "carrying the Mexican's water on the fourth floor."
- Stapleton was referring to Martinez, who is Mexican American.
