Fort Worth contractor arrested on New Mexico embezzlement charges

LOVINGTON, N.M. (AP) — A contractor from Fort Worth, Texas, is being accused of embezzling more than $442,000 from the developers of a multimillion-dollar apartment complex project in southeastern New Mexico.

The Lovington Police Department said 69-year-old Donald Ray Griffin was recently arrested in Texas as the result of a yearlong investigation. Griffin is facing seven felony counts of embezzlement.

It was not immediately clear if Griffin had an attorney. Records show his business, DRG Trinity, LLC, was dissolved earlier this year.

Griffin acted as the general contractor for the project from July 2014 through January 2016. Investigators accuse him of taking for personal use money that had been earmarked for payments to subcontractors who worked on the Lovington Trails project.

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Authorities say aside from the developers, the victims included some locally-owned businesses.