Former Associated Students Inc. executive officer Julio Velazquez was arraigned Thursday and charged with 16 felony counts involving money stolen from ASI, according to court documents.

The first of the 16 felony counts involves obtaining $18,125 by false pretenses from ASI.

Click here to see the 16 felony counts from court documents.

Other counts include forgery and grand theft. All 16 counts occurred between April 28, 2003, and June 30, 2005, while Velazquez served as ASI executive vice president (2003-04) and vice president of finance (fall of 2005).

The investigation came about during a normal review of ASI documents, in which a financial irregularity was noticed, said Sgt. Kelly Clark of the campus police in an e-mail.

“The case has been filed and we will deal with it. Hopefully we can (peacefully) solve it,” said Donald Heller, Velazquez’s attorney. Velazquez could not be reached for comment.

In a statement released Sunday, ASI President Angel Barajas said: “As a student, I am saddened to hear that a former peer has been accused of taking inappropriate actions that are contrary to the university’s policy regarding student conduct.

“As the student body president, I have taken the appropriate steps to ensure that these types of alleged activities will never happen again.” Barajas said he hopes the appropriate steps are taken by the judicial system if there was any wrongdoing, and added that ASI plans to notify the student body after the investigation is concluded.

To prevent similar problems in the future, ASI now has more checks and balances, Barajas said.

“We’ve turned up internal controls,” he added.

ASI has made a new policy of a three-tier process involving both an ASI student committee and administration oversight.

Velazquez is set to appear in court on Feb. 16.

Velazquez resigned from his ASI executive vice president of finance position on Sept. 9, 2005, but could not be reached by Hornet staff for a comment at the time of his resignation.

In April, 2004, former Post Baccalaureate Director Mohamed Hamada announced he was sponsoring an effort to oust Velazquez from his vice president seat, along with then-ASI President Peter Ucovich for “not doing their job.” Velazquez kept his position. “I think there might be a conspiracy going on and that he may be trying to target Mr. Ucovich’s and my credibility,” Velazquez said at the time.

Brandon Darnell can be reached at [email protected]