The Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Program (ESA) private and home school voucher program is becoming quite the financial nest egg as a welfare program for the wealthy, home school families looking to fleece the system and a source of seed money for fraudsters inside and outside the Grand Canyon State.
Today, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office issued a grand jury felony indictment against Johnny Lee Bowers and Ashley Meredith Hewitt, a.k.a. Ashley Hopkins, for fraudulently taking about $110,000 from the ESA program to cover living expenses in Colorado while registering 43 Ghost-Phantom Students along with seven real ones under several fake and their own names.
Currently, Bowers and Hewitt reside in Utah.
According to an office press release and the indictment, they used forged birth certificates, utility bills, and lease agreements to perpetuate this fraud on the Arizona taxpayer.
They are facing one count of conspiracy and fraudulent schemes and 58 counts of forgery.
On social media, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and her team posted this:
Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne issued a press release that read:
“The Department of Education submitted this matter to the Attorney General‘s office and submitted all the other matters currently under criminal investigation, except one, which was discovered by a credit union.
As a former Arizona Attorney General, I am determined as Superintendent to eliminate any fraud within the ESA program. Upon taking office, I hired an auditor who had been in the Auditor General’s office for 15 years, and who is now in charge of the ESA program as well as an investigator. Those two positions had not existed under my predecessor.
I am pleased that prosecutions are following in the cases we sent to The Attorney General’s office.”
Incoming House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos posted this:
Save Our Schools Arizona also issued a press release that read:
“Today, Arizona Attorney General Mayes announced new indictments of two individuals accused of defrauding Arizona taxpayers of over $100,000 through the state’s ESA voucher program. These individuals took advantage of the program’s lax oversight and nonexistent accountability to enroll over 40 “ghost students” with “ghost parents” in the program over the course of two years — while not even living in the state.
This story may sound familiar — in February, Arizona was first introduced to the concept of “ghost children” when Attorney General Mayes cracked down on a ring of conmen defrauding the voucher system using fake students. As Attorney General Mayes warned, “This is a program that is easy to target for fraud.” Mayes’ office is also currently investigating yet another ESA voucher fraud scandal involving fake businesses set up to illegally drain taxpayer funds.
Unfortunately, Republican lawmakers have refused to increase accountability or oversight to reduce the risk of fraud. Meanwhile, the voucher program’s costs have ballooned to now cost Arizona taxpayers over $800,000,000 a year — and growing. Remarkably, so-called “fiscal conservatives” in the state legislature have chosen time and time again to leave this massive sum of taxpayer dollars wide open for fraud and abuse. Unless our state legislature gets serious about reforming the program, we should expect many further instances of fraud as the program continues to grow. Meanwhile, Arizona public schools starved of funding for decades, are being forced to reduce programming, lay off staff, and close altogether due to the voucher drain.”
As Save Our Schools Arizona’s Executive Director Beth Lewis stated, “Arizona’s ESA voucher program is wide open for fraud and abuse— and the Republican majority in the Arizona Legislature has refused to add any oversight or accountability. Misuse and outright fraud will continue to abound until lawmakers add serious guardrails to this off-the-rails entitlement program.”
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
This program is about as disgusting as charter schools opening up on every corner in the city. People who apply for vouchers should be thoroughly vetted before approving their application, using credit reports, pay stubs, utility bills, things that would prove they live here and work here. This program is nothing but a farce designed for rich people to game the system legally and never be held accountable for their so called “educational” purchases or supplies. I hope when Horne’s time is up, he will be voted out and fresh eyes will start to investigate this program for the fraud that it is.
Geez…it’s almost as if ESAs are a scam intended to siphon public money into private pockets. And certain state legislators are using their positions to aid and abet the swindle.
But I’m a cynical wiseass.
Of course, it’s easy to be cynical when watching the AZ legislature in action.
Horne pumping vouchers in TV ads is an obscenity
Your blog is a breath of fresh air in the often stagnant world of online content. Your thoughtful analysis and insightful commentary never fail to leave a lasting impression. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.