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Jayme Valenzuela
PHOENIX- Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Jayme Valenzuela, the former Mayor of the Town of Superior, pleaded guilty to one count of Attempted Theft, a class 6 undesignated felony. In July 2016, a State Grand Jury indicted Valenzuela on one count of theft.
The charge against Valenzuela came after he was accused of making eight personal withdrawals totaling more than $2,300 from the Superior town debit card between August 2013 and December 2014. The withdrawals were made public in December 2015 by former Superior Town Clerk Rachelle Sanchez in her testimony at a meeting of the Superior Town Council. Her report was later verified by the auditing firm of Colby & Powell LLC and the Special Investigations Section (SIS) of the Arizona Office of the Attorney General.
The SIS investigation, as reported last summer in the Superior Sun, alleged that Valenzuela carried the town debit card with himself instead of returning it to the Superior Town Hall between uses as is policy, and used the card on eight occasions when his personal banking card was low on funds. These transactions were not reported. An addiction to gambling was cited as a reason for the misuse of the Superior debit card, with two transactions made at an ATM in the Wild Horse Pass Casino in Chandler, the SIS report alleged.
Valenzuela has contended that his misuse of the town debit card was a “mistake” and after the December 2015 revelation he reimbursed Superior in two payments.
Valenzuela is scheduled to be sentenced on May 3rd, 2017. He faces a probation term of up to 3 years under the terms of his plea agreement.
Assistant Attorney General Adam J. Schwartz prosecuted this case.
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