Former Wapato City Administrator Juan Orozco Arrested

More information has been released related to the Tuesday arrest of former Wapato City Administrator Juan Orozco. Court documents show Orozco was arrested Tuesday afternoon on the Official Misconduct allegation after Yakima County Sheriff's detectives say he arranged his appointment as City Administrator for his own benefit. They say he made the arrangements as he was serving as Wapato Mayor.
Court Documents also alledge Orozco stole money from the city that was given as a donation to the Wapato Harvest Festival and thus allegedly committed the crime of Misappropriation and Falsification of Accounts by a Public Officer.
Detectives say it happened on October 4 of 2018 when a man walked into city offices and donated $100 to the festival.
They say Orozco directed an employee to disregard completing a normal Vision Accounting receipt and instead told the employee to create a word document. Authorities say Orozco then allegedly took the money. An audit of the city found no evidence of cash deposits made in accounting systems or bank accounts for the day the money was donated.
Yakima County Prosecutor Joe Brusic says the investigation continues Today. He says he doesn't expect any other arrests connected to the investigation of the city of Wapato.

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County Sheriff's deputies arrested Former Wapato City Administrator Juan Orozco Tuesday on charges connected to his time spent in Wapato city government.

Orozco was is booked in the the Yakima County Jail on an allegation of Official Misconduct. Orozco resigned as Wapato City Administrator on July 19 as part of settlement worked out with the Attorney General's Office. Orozco, in order to escape more serious charges was able to resign with no severance, pay a $500 fine and agree to never work in the city in the future. The original lawsuit by the Attorney General charged Orozco with violating the opens public meetings act and for setting himself up as the City Administrator for his own benefit.

In 2018 Orozco was the mayor of Wapato but he resigned a short time later after being appointed as the City Administrator. In May of this year the auditor issued a report on the city finding eight concerns including a misappropriation of city funds. The report was turned over to the State Attorney General and Yakima County Prosecutor Joe Brusic who worked with the Yakima County Sheriff's Office on the investigation that lead to the arrest of Orozco on Tuesday.

Yakima County Prosecutor Joe Brusic will appear on The Morning News at 7:40 a.m. Wednesday where he'll give more details about the Orozco arrest.