On Nov. 19, more than a year after being charged with the crime, Jean Collier pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $43,000 from the Saguache Chamber of Commerce. Collier had been the bookkeeper and treasurer of the chamber since 2016.
The guilty plea allows Collier to avoid a jury trial.
The negotiated plea deal also clears Collier‘s boyfriend, Brian Strauss, of any charges. Chamber funds were used for household bills in their shared home, as well as restaurant meals. Strauss was originally charged with “Class Five” felonies of fraud and embezzlement, but these charges have been dropped.
Sentencing for Collier is scheduled for Jan. 21, at the Saguache County Courthouse.
Chamber of Commerce board members said they discovered the fraud in October 2023, and have kept the news quiet for over a year so as not to impede the justice process.
“We trusted Jean,” says Saguache Chamber Chairperson Carla Quintana. “We didn’t question her…I’m embarrassed about being so naïve.”
Quintana, Vice-Chair Dana Gibson, and a former board member who asked not to be named, expressed hurt and anger at being betrayed by someone they felt was a trusted colleague and friend. “The Colliers have deep roots in this community,” said the former board member, who still actively assists in Board business. “We haven’t wanted to cause a rift in this small town. But now we feel it’s time to tell the story.”
With sentencing drawing near, board members expressed concern that the punishment will amount to nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
Since Deputy District Attorney John Zachary, in Alamosa, took over the investigation from the Saguache County Sheriff’s Department, board members say they’ve heard little about the case. Most of their information has come from attending public court hearings.
As far as board members understand (from the DA’s office), the court-ordered restitution agreement will require Collier to reimburse somewhere between $29,000 and $35,000 over the course of four years. If she misses payments, the board will have the option to pursue additional legal action to compel payment.
Megan Bagwell, director of administration and spokesperson for the District Attorney’s office, says protocol prohibits her from answering any questions about specific cases before the information becomes public record.
Only victims of physical violence, she says, have appointed advocates to walk them through the legal process. The department, she added, does not have the resources to communicate regularly with other crime victims, and considerable spending cuts are anticipated in the coming year.
Court-ordered restitution, Bagwell says, is processed through the courts, which then issues checks to victims.
A collections department representative declined to comment and said only that sometimes when an employer can be identified, garnishing wages can be an option.
As a small nonprofit entity run by a handful of volunteers, the Saguache Chamber of Commerce has around 65 members and an annual operating budget between $7,000 and $12,000. Most of these funds come from the Saguache County Sales Tax Grant. Other income is derived from annual membership dues, donations and retail sales of merchandise with the Saguache Chamber logo.
The chamber’s mission is to support local economic development by connecting business owners to available resources. The organization also sponsors two festivals in Saguache each year, featuring local vendors, artists and musicians.
The chamber board stated it was a grueling process for members to discover the disappearance of these funds and a struggle to recover from the loss.
At meetings over the years, Collier would submit a list of bills she said had been paid since the previous meeting. When questioned about bank balances, she said the balance averaged between $3,000 and $5,000.
In September of 2023, after the annual Fall Festival put on by the chamber, a representative of town hall called chairperson Carla Quintana requesting payment for use of the facility. Quintana called Collier several times about this bill and said she was met with unlikely excuses.
According to an unnamed former board member, weeks later, facing threats of legal action from town hall, Collier delivered an envelope of cash to the town hall administrator to settle the bill.
The envelope contained eight dollars more than necessary. The now-former board member took the overage to First Southwest Bank for deposit. The bank teller informed her that the $7,000 check recently deposited to the Chamber’s account had bounced, and that the account was overdrawn by more than $12,000.
No check for $7,000 had been expected. It was a personal check Collier had written to the chamber, which she apparently deposited and then spent that amount out of the chamber account before the check she had written bounced.
Review of the account history later revealed that Collier had engaged in this practice several times. If First Southwest Bank had sent overdraft notices, only Collier was aware of them.
Board members have been unable to contact Collier since, except through legal channels.
Collier did not respond to requests for comment.
Shortly after discovering the deep debt, board members began reviewing the bank account with the Saguache County Sheriff’s Department. Numerous electronic transactions required forensic investigation to determine the recipients of funds. Chamber funds had been used to pay for television services at Collier’s house, expensive dinners at restaurants, and trips to Costco. There were also payments to debt collectors, according to the chamber board.
In the three years reviewed by the board and sheriff’s analysts, it appeared that Collier had embezzled $43,115 of chamber money.
When asked by the sheriff to provide receipts for chamber-related expenses, Collier claimed they had all been lost in a move, according to Quintana
The Chamber Board has been able to reconstruct some of the story by looking at bank records over the years. Prior to 2020, the Chamber had stockpiled a “nest egg” of around $17,000. When the COVID pandemic hit, the chamber continued fundraising efforts, but held off on hosting their annual events, which cut their expenditures down to nearly nothing for several years.
It appears that the embezzlement began in earnest in 2021, Gibson recounted.
Board members have been heartened by the generous outpouring of support by the community. The organization has survived this crisis as a result of a special sponsorship fundraising program. Most of the chambers’ debts have now been paid through cash contributions made by members and other concerned individuals.
Quintana expressed disappointment, but also empathy for Collier. “Jean lost her house to foreclosure,” Quintana says. “She’s living with her mother now.”
Several Saguache residents, who asked not to be named, said that Jean Collier and family are well known and well liked in the community. “She was always very friendly,” said a former co-worker. “She was an active part of the chamber and went to town meetings,” said another.
General consensus seems to be that people want to maintain peace in their town, and specifically do not want to upset Collier’s mother, who is in her 80s.
Though concerned about causing tension in a town where they strive to unify residents, nonprofits and small businesses, board members say they want to tell the truth. They would also like to see justice done. Several of the board members say they plan to show up at the Jan. 21 sentencing hearing to find out what the court system deems as justice in this particular case.