CVUSD board member pleads not guilty to embezzlement charges
A Coachella Valley Unified School District board memberwho worked for Farmers Insurance pleaded not guilty today to charges she keptmore than $12,000 in cash that should have gone to her employer.
Juanita Delara Duarte, 61, who is charged with one felony count of grandtheft, was ordered to return to court April 9 for a felony settlementhearing, and the judge reduced her bail from $60,000 to $12,700. She held up apiece of paper to hide her face at her arraignment this afternoon at the LarsonJustice Center in Indio.
Duarte was arrested Wednesday at her home in Coachella.
John Hall of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said thetheft allegation was unrelated to her school board position.
Coachella Valley Unified School District Superintendent Darryl Adamsreleased a statement saying he was “shocked and saddened” to hear aboutDuarte’s arrest.
“I know that this news is disturbing to the Coachella Valley UnifiedSchool District community, so I want to confirm that this situation does notinvolve her work with our school district,” Adams said. “I have known Ms.Duarte for the past three years, and during this time, I have seen her to bededicated to our public schools and the children we serve. At this time, lawenforcement is investigating the matter, and I believe that we all shouldreserve judgment and comments until the facts are gathered. When lawenforcement has completed its work, the district will make decisions based onfacts and the law.”
In January 2011, a customer told Farmers Insurance that he made two cashpayments to Duarte in February 2010 and September 2010, but never got fullcredit for his auto insurance payment, Hall said.
Farmers audited Duarte and found that, from December 2008 to February2011, she “received cash payments from customers of more than $12,700, butthose cash payments were never applied to customer policies or deposited intoFarmers Insurance accounts,” Hall said.
Farmers identified 32 of Duarte’s clients who paid insurance premiums incash, which was “never properly deposited into the company’s accounts, nordid the customers receive credit for the payments,” Hall said.
As of Wednesday, Duarte still hadn’t deposited the payments into anyFarmers accounts, Hall said.
“The investigation revealed that Duarte primarily targeted low-income,Spanish-speaking victims in the Mecca area of the Coachella Valley,” Hallsaid.
Duarte had an office listed on Highway 111 in Indio.
