The New Mexico Attorney General’s office filed two misdemeanor counts this week against a former Los Lunas Schools Board of Education member for violation of ethical principles of public service.
Steven Otero is charged with two counts of violation of ethical principles of public service, a misdemeanor — one of which was committed between Jan. 1, 2020, and Aug. 6, 2020, and the other between April 6, 2020, and April 21, 2020.
Steven Otero
Charged with two misdemeanors
Jerri Mares, New Mexico Attorney General’s Office Director of Communications, said Otero is alleged to have committed retaliatory and hostile acts toward Los Lunas Schools employees.
Otero told the News-Bulletin on April 7 he was unaware of the criminal charges filed against him by the Attorney General’s office, and had not received any notice.
According to documents filed in the 13th Judicial District Court, Otero “failed to treat his government position as a public trust by using the powers and resources of being a public officer or employee to obtain personal benefits and/or pursue private interests; and/or failed to maintain the integrity of and discharge ethically the high responsibilities of public service.”
If convicted, Otero could face a possible sentence of up to a year in prison, up to a $1,000 fine or both, per count.
Otero, along with the rest of the then Los Lunas Board of Education was permanently suspended in August 2021, following two days of public hearings in which Otero represented himself.
During the public hearings of the suspended 2020-21 Los Lunas Board of Education, some witnesses spoke out against Otero’s retaliatory behavior, saying it was the result of him not being hired for a position within the district in 2018.
Claire Cieremans, LLS chief financial officer, was on the hiring committee for the position Otero applied for within the maintenance department. During her testimony during the hearing last year, Ciermans said she heard through community members that “heads were going to roll” if Otero were elected to the board.
Andy Garcia, LLS director of maintenance and construction, also testified Otero had a “vendetta” against him as a result of passing on Otero as a prospective employee.
Garcia said the vendetta eventually led to an audit by Albuquerque accounting firm REDW, which found no wrongdoing in the maintenance department’s budget and purchases. Otero alleged Garcia and the department were purchasing unneeded supplies causing extraneous spending, resulting in the unauthorized audit.
Members of the Los Lunas Schools Governing Committee, which was overseeing the district while the board’s suspension remained in limbo, were subsequently appointed to the vacant board seats, with the exception of the District 3 seat, which David Vickers, a suspended board member, won back during the November election.
Otero ran for reelection for his District 5 seat last year, but lost to Bruce Bennett.
Otero was elected to the Los Lunas Schools Board of Education in the 2019 general election, taking the seat on Jan. 1, 2020. He served in the seat until May 26, 2021, when all five members of the school board were suspended due to “credible evidence that certain board members have persistently violated procurement and public access laws, the state Public School Code, and professional ethical standards.”
Garcia and Cieremans, as well as a representative from REDW, are all witnesses listed in the district court filing laying out the charges against Otero. Other witnesses include former LLS superintendent Dana Sanders and New Mexico State Police agent Brandon Murphy.
Steven Otero – Criminal Information
Makayla Grijalva was born and raised in Las Cruces. She is a 2020 graduate of The University of New Mexico, where she studied multimedia journalism, political science and history.
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April 19, 2024
