SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Ariz. (KGUN) — Former Santa Cruz County Treasurer Elizabeth Gutfahr is accused of stealing more than $38 milion in taxpayer money.
A specialist appointed to recover the money says he thinks he can only get a little less than one-third of it back.
Gutfahr is not currently facing criminal charges but Santa Cruz County has filed a civil suit to try to recover the money.
A court-appointed receiver says as of right now his best estimate is that he can recover between $10 and $12 million from the mix of real estate, cars, luxury goods and livestock believed bought with stolen money.
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That makes the most optimistic recovery estimate at about 31.5% of the missing $38 million.
The receiver told the judge in the case he is still working to recover more. That includes efforts to seize and sell assets in Mexico.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
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