AZ Vouchers Used by Out-of-State Fraudsters
Ghost children offer gateway to very real cash
If you don’t live in Arizona or have any kids going to school there, you can still get access to that state’s voucher funds.
A man from Florida gained access to the state’s ESA voucher funds by indicating he had children in school in the state. Of course, he didn’t - these ghost kids, though, netted him as much as 25,000.
A Florida man faces multiple felony charges for allegedly defrauding Arizona’s school voucher program out of thousands of dollars, authorities announced Thursday.
Per the Aug. 4 indictment, Jones is accused of fraudulently obtaining control of between $4,000 and $25,000 in Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) funds.
This isn’t the first time someone from out of state found a way to get Arizona voucher cash.
In one recent high-profile case, two people from out of state pleaded guilty to defrauding the publicly funded school voucher program of more than $110,000.
Save Our Schools Arizona has more on the voucher fraud in the state’s program.
And, Arizona is not the only state where ghost kids mean big money for fraudsters.
Riverside Christian Academy-- 16 students enrolled, and 55 vouchers! At $6492 per student, that’s a heck of a windfall. Mitchener University Academy reported an enrollment of 72 and collected 149 vouchers-- so about $230,000 of taxpayer money handed over for non-existent students.
Three former Arizona Department of Education employees were indicted on conspiracy and money laundering charges in what prosecutors say was a scheme to defraud more than $600,000 from an education voucher program that has drawn criticism for its skyrocketing costs and lax regulation by the state.