County official charged in coupon scam

SANTA FE (KRQE) - His job is to help watch over county money, but Santa Fe police allege the county Deputy Treasurer Oliver Garcia was part of a scam to get free car washes.

Garcia is not only the deputy county treasurer, he's one of two Democrats running for the top spot of county treasurer in the June primary.  There is no Republican primary candidate.

Now he's charged with six counts of misdemeanor fraud for using phony car wash coupons.

The investigation began last month when the manager of the Oil Stop on Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe noticed something odd about the car wash coupons a customer was using.

He thought they were photocopied frauds, and it turns out they were.

The car wash manager asked the customer about them, and he they were real adding the county treasurer's office bought a book of them.

The Oil Stop manager kept letting people use the fake coupons, but he wrote down their license plate numbers.

Police linked one of those plates to Garcia and said he admitted to using the fakes a few times.

"The manager of Oil Stop said Oliver Garcia said he had used at least 10 car washes, and we were able to prove six of them," police Sgt. Andrea Dobyns said.

Those car washes were worth $17 apiece.

Garcia admitted he used the fake coupons but did not say he copied them.

He told police a "Mexican male" sold them to his daughter and that it was just a coincidence they were copies of the ones his office bought.

Police said other county workers could also be charged.

KRQE News 13 tried to get ahold of Garcia, and his boss to see if Garcia's job is safe.

News 13 did not get a call back Friday afternoon.