Indictments have been handed down on Margaret “Peggy” Rogers and her husband Russell Rogers for conspiring with Harvey “Leon” Palmer to steal more than $828,400 from the Silver Creek Irrigation District. Peggy Rogers was also indicted for charges related to welfare fraud.
In January of 2017, Palmer, who lived in Taylor and served as the secretary and bookkeeper for the irrigation district for 42 years, as well as a former Taylor town manager, allegedly admitted to investigators that he “loaned” the funds to Margaret “Peggy” Rogers, also known as Margaret Vallborn, in multiple weekly payments over approximately four years without the district board’s knowledge.
The matter came to light after the funds were discovered missing by the Silver Creek Irrigation District Board of Directors and it was reported to the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office that Palmer had been stealing money from the district for over four years.
When asked by investigators why he had given district money to Rogers, Palmer reportedly said that he had done so as an investment, believing that the 10 percent interest he expected to receive from the loan would be much more than the two-tenths of one percent interest provided by the bank, even though no contractual agreement had been in place.
He claimed that Rogers told him the money was to fund a diabetes study that required a great deal of travel. In reality investigators suspect that Rogers used the money to support numerous gambling trips to area casinos.
Palmer also allegedly told investigators that he had been trying to get Rogers to repay the money, telling her he would go to jail if she didn’t, but she always made excuses as to why she couldn’t as Palmer continued to provide her with more money.
Investigators also allege that in addition to providing money to Rogers, the two were also involved in a sexual relationship. The complaint states that his wife had confiscated nine cell phones from her husband in an effort to stop him from exchanging sexually explicit texts with Rogers over the same time frame that the money was given to her.
Working with the Arizona Auditor General’s Office and reviewing tens of thousands of documents, the Sheriff’s Office determined that Palmer had taken from the Irrigation District over $800,000 and gave the money to Peggy and Russell Rogers. Palmer did this by writing over 540 irrigation district checks to cash since August of 2011.
Although the Rogers’ home is in Globe, Russell said they would travel to Snowflake several times a week to pick up cash from the storage unit and his wife and Palmer would sometimes meet in a field on Ramsey Lane in Snowflake. When asked by investigators if he didn’t think it was unusual for his wife to meet in a field with another man, he said he hadn’t thought much about it although he had been aware that she had been sending pictures of naked women to Palmer. He claimed he was unaware of any diabetic study being conducted by his wife.
Before the investigation was completed Leon Palmer died at the age of 78.
Peggy Rogers was indicted by the Navajo County Grand Jury on 14 felony counts including conspiracy, theft, assisting a criminal syndicate, money laundering, fraudulent schemes and artifices, and forgery. Russell Rogers was indicted on six felony counts for his alleged involvement. Russell’s charges include conspiracy, theft, assisting a criminal syndicate and money laundering.
Detectives issued several warrants, subpoenas and examined years of financial statements to gather all the facts and evidence of those involved. Navajo County Sheriff KC Clark noted, “We at Navajo County take these financial crimes seriously and we will hold those who steal tax payers money accountable.”
