SILVER CITY, N.M. – New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez says nearly $2 million was already paid out to former Western New Mexico University President Dr. Joseph Shepard despite Torrez taking action to stop those payments. 

Now, he’s taking new action against the university and board of regents. Torrez filed a new lawsuit against the university’s board of regents to try to claw that money back. 

“We have filed a complaint alleging numerous violations, including violations of and breach of the fiduciary duties held by the regents at Western New Mexico, violation of the Open Meetings Act, violation of the New Mexico Constitution,” said Torrez.  

This comes after state auditors released a scathing report in November revealing Shepard spent $316,000 of the WNMU’s money for personal use. 

After Shepard resigned, the university’s board of regents approved a separation agreement that many called a golden parachute. It included a nearly $2 million buy out, and a high paying teaching position at the university. 

“The level of greed and self-dealing and arrogance that has been exhibited throughout this process and frankly throughout the last year and a half is only been amplified by the actions, and mismanagement of other Board of Regents of Western New Mexico and the actions of Dr. Shepard,” Torrez said. 

Torrez filed this week to halt that payment. In that filing, Torrez said the agreement was to pay out to Shepard on Jan. 15. He says he now learned it was by Jan. 15 and the payment actually happened on Jan. 2, a time when the AG’s office was told university staff were away on break. 

Torrez says his office is now doing everything it can to claw that money back, but he says so far Shepard hasn’t been cooperative. 

“We asked point-blank for him to put the money in a place under, not deliver it back to us, give it to the court until the court could determine the merits of our claims, the merits of the action. He refused,” said Torrez. 

Meanwhile, Torrez says he will work with our lawmakers to change the way our state universities are managed, including how regents are vetted and making it easier to remove them. 

House Speaker Javier Martinez says he believes these changes will get bi-partisan support in the upcoming 60-day legislative session.

“So every university, every executive, every coach at every university and every region should be put on notice that the time of playing political games with our public institutions is coming to an end,” said Martinez. 

Torrez filed a supplement to his earlier filing seeking to have a judge to stop Shepard from spending the buy out money. 

KOB 4 reached out to the attorney for Shepard Thursday. In a statement, he said: 

“This entire process was handled appropriately, legally, and transparently… the state’s time would be better spent helping the university focus on its important work of educating and supporting its students during this transition.”