Due to the continued focus of the Department of Children and Families and Milwaukee law enforcement to stop fraud in the Wisconsin Shares program, another child care provider was sentenced last week for stealing from taxpayers. This is the second provider sentenced this month for scamming the Wisconsin Shares program.
Shawn Nash, who handled the billing for Kinder World Child Care, entered a guilty plea for felony theft in March. Today, she was sentenced to 20 months in jail with 20 months supervised release and ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution. Nash billed the Wisconsin Shares program for children who were not receiving care or did not attend the center. The Department of Children and Families (DCF) uncovered the abuse and suspended payments to the provider in April 2010. DCF investigated the case along with other partners in the Milwaukee Anti-Fraud Task Force.
“The Department of Children and Families is ensuring state funds are truly at work to benefit Wisconsin families by stopping fraudulent providers, saving taxpayer dollars, and keeping children safe,” stated DCF Secretary Eloise Anderson.
Last month, Veronica McKelvin was sentenced to 150 days in county jail and 50 hours of community service. McKelvin was found guilty by a jury in March of felony theft and fraudulent writings. McKelvin owned Veronica’s Day Care Center and was suspended by DCF from the Wisconsin Shares program in July 2010. The joint investigation by DCF and the Task Force discovered she was billing the State for children that no longer attended, billing for additional hours beyond what the children attended, falsifying attendance records, and billing for weekend shifts that did not take place.
Maria Woodruff, owner of Kinder World Child Care, has also been convicted of fraud and is expected to be sentenced later this month.
By tackling fraud in Wisconsin Shares, the Department of Children and Families has saved taxpayers over $130 million. Governor Scott Walker is committed to eliminating waste, fraud and abuse of public funds.
These charges are a result of the collaborative work by the Milwaukee Child Care Anti-Fraud Task Force, led by the Department of Children and Families and the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, which works collaboratively to investigate and prosecute child care fraud. The joint effort also includes the Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department, Wisconsin Department of Justice, Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Milwaukee County Human Services Department.
