How to send news tips to azcentral.com and the Republic of Arizona
Readers can send tips to the Republic of Arizona and azcentral.com via the newspaper’s social media channels or by emailing newstips@arizonarepublic.com.
Republic
- The verdict of former Santa Cruz County treasurer, Elizabeth Gutfer, was delayed until June 18th.
- Gutfahr pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $40 million in November and embezzling money laundering and tax evasion.
- Court-appointed recipients are working to sell Gutfahr’s assets to recover stolen funds, with $2.8 million recovered as of December.
The second time the sentence of a former Santa Cruz County treasurer pleaded guilty to embezzlement of nearly $40 million in public funds was delayed.
Former Treasury Secretary Elizabeth Gaffer, 63, was not in custody but was scheduled to be sentenced in Tucson on May 7th. However, a US district judge has allowed the verdict to be pushed back to 2:30pm on June 18th, at the request of Gutfahr’s attorney, Joshua Hamilton.
Hamilton requested continuation to allow additional time to schedule and conduct probation interviews, and additional time to confirm and finalize objections to subsequent reports.
According to federal criminal procedure rules, probation officers will conduct presence investigations and submit reports before the court places a judgment on the probation officer.
Gutfahr pleaded guilty in November to embezzlement of $38.7 million between 2014 and 2024, and to tax evasion for laundering money and failing to pay income taxes more than $13 million.
Stolen from Santa Cruz County, Gutfar transferred the money to a bank account of a fake company to avoid paying income taxes, hiding his source of income when he ordered wire transfers from the county account. She fraudulently wired 187 remittances over a decade, buying multiple properties and remodeling the Rancho San Caetano home.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, which filed a civil suit against Gutfar in August 2024, said it was disappointed by the multiple delays in the ruling.
“We are increasingly disappointed by the delay in the sentence. The legal process has been dragging on for too long. It is unacceptable that justice will continue to be postponed,” the board said in a news release on April 1. “Our hardworking taxpayers, who are victims of this crime, deserve prompt and decisive action and closure in this part of the reparations.”
The board also urged the U.S. Department of Justice and the courts to facilitate the ruling process.
Guffer faces the biggest penalty in a 10-year prison for embezzlement numbers, 20-year prison for money laundering counts, 5-year prison for tax evasion counts, and compensation for Santa Cruz County and other victims.
Her assets are currently held in the receiving ship. The court-appointed recipient is the MCA Financial Group, working to sell the assets of the Gutfahr family to recover the lack of funds. in December Receiver Report$2.8 million was recovered from sales of Gutfahr’s property, livestock, vehicles and other assets.
A judge ordered the court at Santa Cruz County’s request. nOT will dismiss the lawsuit until at least February 17, 2026, and require parties to file status reports in June 2025 and October 2026.
The county requested that court-appointed recipients continue to maintain control of Gutfahr’s assets and continue the lawsuit to allow the court to resolve any disputes that may arise from the receiving vessel.
The timeline the county said in the report that it depends, among other things, on the reliance on when the assets are sold.
Reach the reporter with sarah.lapidus@gannett.com. Reports from the Republic of Southern Arizona are funded in part with grants from the US report. Support Arizona news coverage with tax-deductible donations supportjournalism.azcentral.com.
