They say time is relative.

Apparently, the last few years at Attorney General Gary King's office seem more like "several months" to at least one staffer.

King's spokeswoman Lynn Southard last month told The New Mexican that the attorney general had received information about alleged embezzlement of $3 million from Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center "several months" ago.

That statement contradicted a statement from the Santa Fe hospital that CEO Alex Valdez had turned over relevant documents about the case to the attorney general in 2008.

This week, the newspaper received documents as part of a public-records request that indicate the hospital representative was correct: King's office has known about the allegations since early 2008 and began investigating them in September 2008.

Asked about the conflicting statements, King said his spokeswoman had merely made a poor word choice when she answered questions last month.

"I don't think 'several months' was particularly descriptive of how long we've had the case," King said. "But I don't think it was a lie, either. Several months is not a good description based on human experience of how much several months is, but basically it was trying to be a way to say that we can't make a specific comment on any particular case that is under investigation."

When Southard was asked why she had said the case had been received "several months ago," she said she answered the question based on what she had been told. King said he didn't know who had given his public information officer that information. "I don't know who she talked to," King said. "It wasn't me."

"I guess I do have to do a personal mea culpa to everybody that thinks that several months ago apparently means like three months ago or something like that," King said. "I think it was meant to be indeterminate."

King said he didn't think to correct the misunderstanding about the time frame before Wednesday — even after he was criticized for it in a newspaper editorial — because he is more focused on carrying out the duties of his office.

The investigation in question focuses on allegations that the hospital's former Chief Financial Officer Richard Crabtree, along with a woman named Loretta Mares and her two brothers, conspired to embezzle $3 million from the hospital by billing for technology services that in some cases were never delivered.

Crabtree has not returned calls seeking comment.

Mares — who is also known by her maiden name, Bernadette Gallegos — is the live-in girlfriend of Martin Chávez, the former mayor of Albuquerque who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives seat being vacated by Martin Heinrich. Attempts to reach her and her brothers have been unsuccessful.

The alleged embezzlement became public just last month, after the insurance company that reimbursed the hospital for the missing money filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court against Mares, her brothers Steven R. Gallegos and Michael Gallegos, and five companies owned jointly by two or more of the siblings.

Documents received from King's office indicate that his investigators learned of the allegations in early 2008 (sometime between January and March) but waited for the hospital to conduct an internal investigation before starting its own criminal case.

"It's been nearly six months since the Attorney General's office agreed to pause our investigation while you and your client performed an internal investigation," New Mexico Attorney General's Office Special Agent Larry Huegler wrote to Christus St. Vincent counsel Larry Maldegen on Sept. 9, 2008. "I have attempted to contact you by phone but have not heard back from you. ... I will need to speak to you within the next week so my office can consider what course of action is necessary to fulfill our statutory responsibility."

King said Wednesday that, as an elected official, he would like to be able to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the case. But as a prosecutor, he is prohibited from discussing cases that are under investigation.

King said he couldn't comment on why his office would wait for the hospital to conduct its own investigation before looking into the matter — except to quote his chief prosecutor's favorite saying that "a box of documents does not equal a box of evidence." He also couldn't comment on why, after three years, the case is still open.

He said his staff has been actively working on the case, but white-collar crimes that include thousands of pages of documents and numerous witnesses often take a long time to investigate. King said Mares' connection to Chávez "was totally unknown to me during the course of this investigation."

King said he couldn't comment on when his office might be finished with the case, but "it will not be a really long period of time" before the public gets some information on the outcome of the investigation.

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.