Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron isn’t currently being placed on administrative leave from her position with the state Department of Workforce Solutions despite the fact that she was indicted on 50 felony counts related to public corruption on Wednesday.
Deputy Secretary Ken Ortiz stated in a news release that while “the allegations contained in the indictments are serious, they concern actions that are unrelated to (Vigil-Giron’s) work with the department.”
Vigil-Giron is a constituent liaison for the department’s labor and industrial division.
She and others indicted — lobbyists Joseph Kupfer and Elizabeth Kupfer and contractor Armando Gutierrez — each face 50 counts including money laundering, fraud, soliciting or receiving kickbacks and tax evasion. They’re accused of bilking taxpayers out of millions of dollars between 2004 and 2006 by falsifying invoices to the secretary of state’s office.
The release from Ortiz’s office states that the department will have no further comment on Vigil-Giron’s indictment “until it has had an opportunity to review the matter.”
“Until that time, Ms. Vigil-Giron is expected to continue to fulfill her work duties,” the release states.