LAS VEGAS – Former Clark County, Nevada school official Priscilla Rocha told a court this week she’s not guilty of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the school district.     

Priscilla Rocha

But a mountain of evidence – 100 exhibits and 1,007 pages of grand jury testimony – shows Rocha and other school employees engaged in an “alleged system of ghost employees, fake companies, secret bank accounts and equipment theft dating back to 2005…,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

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“Rocha, 66, was director of the School District’s Adult English Language Acquisitions Services division teaching English to adults on an annual department budget of $1.1 million. She’s charged with 26 counts of theft and 24 counts of unlawful use of public money in an elaborate scheme to steal from the school district,” the news site reports. “Her son, 44-year-old Jerome Rocha, who lives in New Mexico, is charged with 10 theft counts.”

“The other defendants are Donnie Placenia, 50, of New Mexico, who faces 10 theft counts; Andres Mendoza, 47, of Las Vegas, who is charged with theft, burglary and possession of stolen property; and Jamie Espitia, 41, of Las Vegas, who faces two theft counts.”

In total, the former school employees and their co-defendants are charged with stealing $289,000 in public funds from the school district, according to the Review-Journal.

A district court judge delayed a Monday arraignment hearing for Rocha and her four co-defendants until tomorrow despite concerns from prosecutors that they’re a flight risk because of their connections to high-ranking officials in Mexico.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Staudaher “referenced a charge in the case where Rocha is accused of sneaking School District computers into Mexico through a ranking city of Ensenada official, who met her group at the border to provide special treatment through customs without an inspection,” according to the Review-Journal.

One of the defendants, Jamie Espitia, has reportedly admitted to being an illegal alien with a fraudulent driver’s license and Social Security Number, which Staudaher believes makes her an especially likely candidate to flee the country to avoid prosecution.

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Regardless, the judge released the defendants after chastising Staudaher for “far-fetched” profiling of “Mexican-Americans” for arguing that they’re a flight risk. The judge told the defendants he expects all five defendants to show for arraignment tomorrow, and those who don’t will be hunted down and jailed for the remainder of the proceedings.