American taxpayers just got another look at how the childcare subsidy machine actually works in Gavin Newsom’s California.
The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that 12 naturalized citizens and lawful permanent residents, originally from Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, have been charged in a more than $10 million home-daycare fraud scheme in San Diego.
Prosecutors say the defendants obtained California licenses to run home childcare, signed up with Child Development Associates and the YMCA to collect federal and county subsidies meant for low-income working families, then knowingly submitted false attendance records claiming they were watching children on days and at times when they were not.
They signed those forms under penalty of perjury. The money still showed up as direct deposits.
More than 250 federal, state, and local officers arrested all 12 defendants in a coordinated Thursday-morning raid and executed search warrants at the San Diego-area homes they claimed were daycare facilities.
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon put it bluntly: “Today is a bad day for home daycare fraud. These fraudsters may have criminally gamed the system before. But today, the game is over.”
IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Jarod Koopman said investigators “uncovered patterns of deceit that revealed twelve ghost daycare operations billing for children who were never present,” and that proceeds went to luxury homes, overseas wire transfers, and large cash withdrawals.
Hellbound and Down 