(The Center Square) – Individuals in an Empowerment Scholarship Account fraud case were indicted by an Arizona Grand Jury, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced on Monday.
Johnny Lee Bowers and Ashley Meredith Hewitt are facing counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices of $100,000 or more, conspiracy and forgery for allegedly submitting a mix of real and fake information to the state government to illegally take advantage of the program, according to indictment documents.
The duo allegedly submitted 43 “ghost” children out of the 50 applications filed, in addition to parents that also did not exist. According to the news release, they received over $110,000 overall in taxpayer dollars from the program fraudulently.
Mayes’ office says that the duo used the funds for themselves in Colorado but they now may live in Utah.
The illegal activity may have started in December 2022 until May of this year. Fraud and conspiracy are Class 2 felonies, which could range anywhere from three to 35 years behind bars, and forgery is a Class 4 felony which ranges from 1 to 3.75 years imprisonment, according to state law.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who took office in January 2023 after the alleged crimes started, said the case was referred to Mayes from his office and he’s “pleased that prosecutions are following.”
“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,” he said.
The case involving the credit union involved ex-employees of the education department, who allegedly used a similar method of faking students to obtain funds. The indictments in that case were made public in February.
“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,” he continued.
