Pair used ‘ghost’ names to apply for funding for fake kids, officials say
An Arizona grand jury has indicted two people accused in a “ghost” parent scheme that defrauded a state program aimed at allowing school choice, officials said.
The man and woman were indicted on 60 felony counts, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office said in a Dec. 2 news release.
An arraignment will be scheduled, Richie Taylor, communications director for the attorney general’s office, said in an email to McClatchy News.
Taylor didn’t have information on defense attorneys for the duo.
The pair is accused of submitting applications to Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program for 50 children, including 43 kids who don’t exist, the attorney general’s office said. They used fraudulent documents, such as birth certificates, utility bills and lease agreements, to make the applications, officials said.
“They applied as parents under their own names as well as under the names of made-up ‘ghost’ parents,” officials said. The pair spent the roughly $110,000 they received on living expenses in Colorado, officials said.
They now appear to live in Utah, officials said.
The Empowerment Scholarship Account program allows parents to use public school funding on private school tuition, online education, private tutoring and similar expenses, the Arizona Department of Education said.
More than 83,000 students have used the program, the department said.
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