Former PTO president accused of embezzling $16K

The former PTO president for Maggie Cordova Elementary is accused of embezzling more than $16,500 from the organization and also faces two charges of tampering with evidence.

The missing funds came to light when new principal Shelley Havill reported missing funds from the PTO’s bank account in October 2022. According to a criminal complaint filed in magistrate court, Havill told police she went to Bank of the West to deactivate debit cards assigned to former principal Stephanie Nieto and former PTO President Felisha (Ulibarri) Rabadanov, 37, of Rio Rancho, who had not been involved in the PTO since June 2021.

When the branch manager disclosed only $71 remained in the account, Havill became concerned, saying there should have been $20,000-$30,000 in the PTO account.

Statements from the past 30 days revealed transactions at several restaurants and other businesses, none of which were purchases authorized by the PTO. In fact, the PTO, Havill told police, had been inactive since the COVID-19 shut down schools and she was working to reactivate it. No transactions were approved during that timeframe due to the inactivity of the organization.

Havill and the bank’s branch manager then looked into bank records from Jan. 1, 2019, to Oct. 21, 2022. Those statements revealed purchases for airline tickets, which matched up to photographs Rabadanov had posted of her and her family on vacation in New York. Further purchases in those statements included airlines, hotels, department stores, apartments, utilities, Ticketmaster and more. Bank records also indicated that all the fradulent purchases were made on the debit card assigned to Rabadanov.

A total of 20 businesses confirmed to police, after search warrants were issued, that Rabadanov made purchases with them under her account, had items delivered or reservations made with her contact information on the card issued from the PTO account.

Havill was also concerned about and account connected to the school account that was making transfers to and from it. The bank told police the connected account belonged to Rabadanov that had been closed since July 2022. However, activity between the two accounts started on Jan. 14, 2022, when there was a deposit of $6,500 from Rabadanov’s account to the school account. Then, on Feb. 15, 2022, money began to be transferred back into her account in amounts ranging from $100-$250 over the course of four months, totaling about $1,900.

Both Havill and Nieto told police no purchases were allowed to be made out the PTO account without a vote and approval from the board. Nieto also said that they tried to get the debit card back from Rabadanov, “but it was really difficult to get a hold of her,” the complaint reads. The bank told Nieto there was no fraudulent activity on the card, she said, so the issue was left alone at that point.

On April 21, 2023, Rabadanov came in for a voluntary interview with Rio Rancho Police. She admitted to using the debit card over 1.5 years for “food and necessary trips,” the complaint states. She said she transferred the $6,500 into the PTO account from her personal account in an attempt to pay back the funds she used, but never informed the school of any of the activity. She also admitted to using the PTO funds “to make purchases she stated were necessary for herself and her family, to include paying for a hotel and Miami Heat tickets for her honeymoon.” She then told police she disposed of the card in October 2022.

Police totaled the fraudulent charges on the PTO account to $16,512.74.

Rabadanov has been summoned for embezzlement, a third-degree felony, and two counts of tampering with evidence, a fourth-degree felony. She could face up to three years for the embezzlement and up 18 months on each count of tampering with evidence, totaling six years.