A Tucson woman faces up to 15 months in federal prison after pleading guilty today to stealing more than $18,000 from prospective clients of a local nonprofit.
Gabriella De La Cruz, 36, was indicted in January on 73 counts of mail fraud, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court.
De La Cruz worked from 2002 to 2007 as a secretary and paralegal for Southern Arizona Legal Aid, which provides free civil legal services to qualified low-income people, her indictment reads.
During that time, De La Cruz assisted clients — all of whom were undocumented aliens that had been victims of domestic violence — in obtaining papers to work legally in the U.S., court records show.
De La Cruz collected $18,598 in fees from 59 clients, either in the form of cash or money orders. For money orders, De La Cruz instructed the clients to leave the payee section blank, court records show.
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Rather than submitting those funds to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, which grants work visas, De La Cruz filed 30 check requests to Southern Arizona Legal Aid and an additional 43 fee waiver requests to cover the costs of the document applications, court records show.
“She essentially pocketed the money,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Markovich said Thursday during a plea hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo P. Velasco.
De La Cruz pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. As part of her plea agreement, she will be given a sentence ranging from probation to 15 months, and will be responsible for paying more than $18,000 in restitution.
She is scheduled to be sentenced July 10 by U.S. District Court Judge John M. Roll.
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