Attorney General Mayes’s Office Indicts former ADE ESA Employees of Fraud

The Arizona Attorney General’s office, headed by Kris Mayes, announced the indictment of five individuals, three of them former employees at the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) for “allegedly engaging in fraud, conspiracy, computer tampering, illegally conducting an enterprise, money laundering and forgery related to the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program.”

The defendants who have been indicted are Dolores Lashay Sweet, Dorrian Lamarr Jones, Jennifer Lopez, Jadakah Celeste Johnson, and Raymond Lamont Johnson, Jr.

Please click here to view the indictments.

Perhaps the most mindblowing aspect of these indictments is the defendants, including the former ADE employees, used their positions at the department, to approve monies for three “ghost” students who did not exist and were furnished with fraudulent birth certificates and special education diagnoses.

The Ghost Student Scheme started in early 2023. However, the accused had been committing fraudulent activities at the ADE for a year and a half before spanning the terms of two Superintendents.

The accused appears to have bilked the state taxpayers of over $600,000.

Attorney General Mayes held a press event earlier this afternoon to explain the indictments.

Throughout the event, Ms. Mayes continually pointed out that the Empowerment Scholarship Account program, with no accountability measures, is a plum target for fraudsters, both inside and outside the program. She repeatedly blamed the Republican State Legislature for not putting in string accountability measures when they passed their universal program expansion in 2022.

Among the Attorney General’s comments:

“These are serious crimes and we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. But my overarching concern here is that this is a program that is easy to target for fraud. The legislature has never appropriately funded the administration of this program and the lack of controls, regulation, and appropriate oversight makes the voucher-ESA program a target for fraudsters as we have seen. This has only been exacerbated by the Universal Voucher expansion passed in 2022.”

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, in a defensive posture following the Attorney General’s comments, gave his own remarks, saying it was his efforts that have cracked down on fraud at the ESA program and that the accountability mechanisms are in place to ensure this incident never happens again.

He also claimed that it was his office that first alerted the Attorney General’s office about two of the former ADE employees and seven other cases of fraud, including those that have used false birth certificates.

His ESA Director, John Ward, seemed to contradict Horne’s contention of informing the AG’s office first when he said they became aware of the potential fraud in response to a documents request from the AG’s office based on the reporting of questionable financial activity on one of the defendants (Delores Sweet) from her Credit Union. It was after that, they uncovered more evidence of fraud.

Reaction to the indictments has been quick.

State Senator and teacher Christine Marsh commented:

“Attorney General Mayes has been a true champion for accountability and transparency in the ESA voucher program. Today, she announced that five people allegedly falsified birth certificates, created “ghost students,” and manipulated the program’s original intent of serving Arizona students with disabilities. This news shows what an easy target for fraud this universal expansion really was. Legislative Republicans have consistently roadblocked attempts to pass safeguards on this program. These safeguards would have ensured that services for students with disabilities were not degraded, that our students were kept safe in schools accepting ESA voucher money, and put in place financial transparency requirements. I couldn’t agree more that the lack of controls, regulations, and appropriate oversight on this program has given bad actors an easy way to take advantage of our students and our tax dollars. It is deeply disturbing that my colleagues across the aisle seem to have no reaction to the ongoing fraud that continues to be uncovered. This legislature’s latest inaction has cost the taxpayers another $600,000—this is nothing short of shameful.

I echo the Attorney General’s call on the legislature: it is high time the Legislature gets serious about putting some regulations in place to prevent fraud in the first place.”

State Representative and Sunnyslope School Board President Consuelo Hernandez offered:

“Today’s ESA fraud indictment is an example of why Democrats have been fighting for guardrails and accountability but, Republicans are unwilling to entertain them.”

Arizona Education Association (A.E.A.) spokesperson Emily Kirkland issued a brief statement that read:

“As every new headline makes clear, Arizona’s ESA voucher program has been a complete disaster. The utter lack of accountability and transparency makes this program ripe for fraud and abuse. And yet ESA voucher proponents have blocked even the most basic, common-sense safeguards. It’s time to rein in the ESA voucher program before it spins even further out of control.”