"Sex Made Me Do It"

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Agujia Sent To Jail; Sex Addiction Blamed In Town Credit Card Fraud

Dan  Telvock

Mar 17, 2004 -- The Town of Leesburg’s former director of Information Technology was sentenced this morning to four months in jail for stealing nearly $40,000 from the town to pay for escort services and to buy high-performance car parts for his BMW sports car over a period of a year and a half.

Michel Agujia, 38, of Frederick, MD, said in Loudoun Circuit Court that he was using the Town of Leesburg’s purchase card to pay for sex with escorts because he was labeled by a therapist as a sexual addict two years after a tumor was removed from his brain, allowing his hormones to return to a normal level for a male.

Agujia was sentenced by Loudoun Circuit Court Judge Burke F. McCahill to six years in prison with all but four months suspended and three years of supervised probation upon his release. Agujia was convicted on two counts of stealing money from the town and faced a potential sentence of 40 years in prison.

Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman said Agujia stole a total of $38,281.32 when he illegally used his town-issued purchase card to pay for a total of 249 illegal transactions, mostly for sex with escorts and about $4,000 in car parts. Included in that amount is $3,923.51 in expense reports that Plowman said Agujia forged. Agujia will repay the town for those illegal charges as well as for the special forensic audit the Town of Leesburg conducted for $12,233.38 in response to his activity. No other fraud was detected by the auditors. The total amount Agujia owes in reimbursement to the town is $25,514.70, because he furnished the town with a $25,000 check after he was arrested last year.

According to a spreadsheet that Plowman provided McCahill as evidence, Agujia had at least 249 total charges starting in April 2002 and ending Sept. 5, 2003, 10 days before he resigned from his $92,865 job. Out of that total number of illegal charges and forged expense reports, 36 had no receipts which is a violation of town policy. Other charges contained PayPal—a pay and charge system using the Internet—receipts with no name or e-mail receipts. For the forged expense reports, Agujia was being reimbursed for meetings in Richmond that were canceled or ones that he never attended, ranging from $264 to $441 each. Plowman said Agujia was with escorts during these times and the pay he was given by the town for expecting to be at these meetings was not included in the required reimbursement.

When Agujia resigned Sept. 15, 2003, it sent shock waves through the town government offices and the town’s residents, many whom had already gone through a credit card scandal in 1999 that resulted in the resignations of a town manager and a council member.

Town Manager Robert S. Noe, who is retiring in October, took blame for the 2003 scandal and many on town council praised him for action he took once the incident came to light. However, it was 19-year town employee and Finance Director Paul E. York who lost his job, when he resigned the following month. A recent audit of the Finance Department showed that many loopholes still exist in the department, even after the action taken in 1999 to prevent misuse of public funds from happening again. York filed a victim/witness statement, as did two other town employees, but McCahill ruled that the three are not victims of Agujia’s crimes under state code and Plowman filed the letters as evidence instead. Agujia’s attorney, Eric Strom, said Wednesday that York’s letter stated he was going to be fired because of Agujia’s actions.

During testimony at Wednesday’s sentencing, Town Attorney William Donnelly said that York was forced to resign by Noe and that Agujia’s actions had a severe impact on morale and productivity in the town government. Donnelly said the Agujia incident gave the town a “black eye” and many high priority projects were put on the backburner as town leaders tried to get to the bottom of Agujia’s theft.

“It definitely interfered with the productivity of the town government,” Donnelly said.

Agujia took the stand and said he started his job in April 1999 and in 2000 a tumor was found on his brain. The tumor grew from two millimeters in size to 8.9 millimeters in nine months and on April 7, 2000, it was successfully removed. Agujia said doctors never suggested hormone therapy.

“In retrospect, I started to have more sexual desire,” Agujia said, adding that it was because his testosterone was returning to a normal level. Agujia said he was engaging in risky sex with escorts using the town’s purchase card and, at times, even his own cash.

“I was trying to stop, and, with the knowledge I know now, I would not have been able to do this on my own,” he said. Agujia said in mid-2003 he went to a psychologist who suggested a therapist, who eventually labeled him as a “sexual addict.” Strom pointed out in a doctor’s letter that it stated Agujia’s reactions two years after the operation were “within the realm of psychological variations and is to be expected.”

Still, Agujia said, “I blame myself,” and told the judge his actions caused a lot of shame for his wife and two school-aged children who had to witness him being handcuffed on a Saturday afternoon at his Frederick, MD, home.

But, Plowman said it would be preposterous to believe that Agujia went through this elaborate scheme of fraud because of a sexual addiction. He pointed out that purchasing brake pads and rotors for his BMW sports car were not purchases one normally would buy to attract women.

“I don’t accept his explanation,” Plowman said. “It’s unsubstantiated.”

Plowman said this incident tarnished the town and it could not be compared to the credit scandal in 1999, which he termed as misuse of a town credit card by a town manager and councilman that was eventually paid back. He said Agujia was involved in “blatant theft.”

Agujia’s abuse was actually spotted by an employee in the Finance Department back in March 2003. Chief Purchasing Officer Kathy Elgin said she noticed charges for “dating and escort personal services” on an invoice and questioned Agujia about it. She said he assured her that the vendor code was incorrect and he apparently provided her with false documents and receipts to show that he had purchased software, not escorts. Elgin did not pursue the matter and said Agujia appeared so honest that she took his word for it.

More pressure was put on the town when a Freedom of Information Act request was filed by Leesburg Today on Sept. 10 for Agujia’s credit card records spanning back to 2002. Donnelly said last year that he asked the Finance Department at least twice about Agujia’s use of the purchase card and both times was assured that there was no suspicious activity. During Wednesday’s sentencing, Donnelly again said that, “I was assured by [York] that there were no irregularities.”

Two days after the FOIA request, Agujia informed Noe that he had illegally used the town’s purchase card for escort services and three days later he resigned, which was announced by Noe during a press conference in council chambers. Agujia’s indictments state he was stealing from the town during July 1, 2002, through Dec, 31, 2002, and Jan. 1, 2003 through June 30, 2003.

When one looked at Agujia’s use by vendor code, it plainly showed more than 30 charges—ranging from $265 to $724—for escort services like “Sweeties” and “VanessaDash.” One of the escort services, Romeo3Entertainment, gained local notoriety because the operator of that business who lived in Ashburn was charged with prostitution-related charges. Agujia later testified against the operator, Preston Jenkins, in U.S. District Court, and said he did have sex with the escorts. Jenkins was convicted on six charges and is to be sentenced later this year.

Agujia’s name was clearly on the analysis report that the Finance Department is expected to check for all purchase card users and the vendor was stated as “dating and escort personal service,” with the dates, account number, phone number and cost. Lack of oversight was the only reason given by town authorities when asked how such a scam could occur in town government.

The audit report conducted by accounting firm PBGH of Harrisonburg and completed in January, looked at 25 transactions from June 30, 2002, to July 1, 2003, and 5,842 transactions totaling $707,960. No other fraud was detected. But eight of the transactions lacked the detailed documentation required under town policies and three were not even signed by the department head. One purchase was also fiddled with to avoid the town’s $1,000 purchase limit, which is a violation of town policy that went undetected until the audit. PBGH asserted that a crucial internal control measure was lacking in the process because department heads were not required to get their transactions approved, and essentially approved them by themselves. In response to that, the town took away all purchase cards for department heads. It also decreased the number of card distributed to employees from 86 to 66.

The auditing firm urged the town government to train its staff on the purpose of the purchase card system and how it needs to operate. The town also expanded its whistleblower policy, giving more protection to employees who provide information to town leaders about illegal activity in the town government.

Before he was sentenced, Agujia read from a prepared statement, saying that there really is no explanation for what he did and that he is suffering every day because of his actions.

“I am a convicted felon,” he said. “I will not be able to vote. I am not able to find a job. I lost a great relationship with my wife. I lost a great career that I had.”

McCahill said he thought hard about what would be an appropriate sentence for Agujia, considering that the state guidelines called only for probation. He said that many times a jail term is given as a deterrent and to help a person rehabilitate, but in this case and in others, a sentence is needed just as “good, old-fashioned punishment.” He also said most people who commit similar crimes have nothing, but Agujia “had it all.”

Only Agujia is to blame for his betrayal and breach of the public’s trust, the judge said.

“A lot of people have urges of one sort or another, but they don’t satisfy those urges with theft. That’s the key distinction,” McCahill said.

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