EDITORIAL: Garnish Rocha’s pension

Former Clark County School District administrator Priscilla Rocha stole from the system to enrich herself, and she was caught. Now she must be made to pay back every dime she took — and she can’t argue that she lacks the means to do so.

In March, Rocha, who directed the district’s Adult English Language Acquisition Services program, pleaded guilty to felony counts of theft and unlawful use of public money, and she admitted to stealing $132,000. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors, who alleged that Rocha’s theft actually totaled $289,000, agreed to drop 50 felony counts. She’ll be sentenced June 30.

On Tuesday, however, Rocha has a restitution hearing before District Judge Susan Johnson. And the Clark County district attorney’s office plans to ask that Rocha pay back the full $289,000, not just the $132,000 she admitted to taking. Good. She stole valuable equipment and donated it to schools in Mexico, paid ghost employees for tutoring they never did, used school district resources to buy a beauty salon and had a school employee work at the salon on district time.

But the scam didn’t end there. Rocha retired from the school district shortly after her program was shut down last year, and she immediately began collecting a pension from the taxpayers she fleeced. While awaiting sentencing, she has been pocketing about $6,000 per month. Although the Legislature just passed a bill to deny pension benefits to public employees who steal from taxpayers, the legislation isn’t retroactive. Rocha will collect about $70,000 per year for the rest of her life, despite her abuse of the public.

Judge Johnson should order Rocha to repay the school district $289,000. And the judge should garnish the felon’s pension to pay the bill. Rocha won’t need the money when she’s in prison.