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A Leflore County, Miss. resident has been arrested for child care fraud following an investigation conducted by the Investigations Division of the Mississippi Department of Human Service (MDHS).
Investigators found that Towanda Ware, the owner/operator of Bright Beginnings Daycare and Bright Beginnings Daycare II, received monies through the childcare voucher program in the amount of $441,776.37 for children that did not attend the center from January 2017 to December 2019.
Due to the substantial amount of overpayment and the evidence of alleged fraud found during the investigation, the case was turned over to the Leflore County District Attorney’s Office. The case was presented to the Grand Jury for criminal prosecution. The Leflore County District Attorney secured an indictment on June 20, 2022, and Ware turned herself in to MDHS-OIG and Leflore County officials through her attorney on Thursday, July 14, 2022. As with any criminal case, an indictment is no evidence of guilt and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial or by entry of guilty plea.
The case was investigated by Agent Jonathan Rider of the MDHS Investigations Division.
The Investigations Division is a subset of the MDHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), which was created in August 2018 and charged with detecting, preventing, and deterring fraud, waste, and abuse. OIG has been responsible for recovering millions in dollars collected from fraudulent overpayments.
“This investigation and ultimate prosecution demonstrates the controls we have in place to identify, investigate, and eliminate fraud in our programs,” MDHS Executive Director Robert G. “Bob” Anderson said. “This is also a great example of cooperation between our investigations team and local law enforcement.”
Suspected fraud can be reported to MDHS online any time by submitting the MDHS Fraud Tip Form at https://www.mdhs.ms.gov/ report-fraud/, calling the Fraud Tip Line at 1-(800)-299-6905, or email at fraud@mdhs.ms.gov.
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