mdhs embezzlement scheme

By the time these meetings occurred in April, July and August of 2020 former welfare department director John Davis, who was indicted last year for his critical role in the alleged scheme, had been retired for about a year. Feazell later turned herself into MDHS and Hinds County officials on Monday, February 28, 2022. The audit released less than a year later said that according to its budget, Victory Sports used the nearly $1.4 million welfare subgrant to pay for staff and coaches, a program design fee, equipment, an onsite nurse, marketing and other administration costs, and to purchase a $20,000 trailer and a $70,000 vehicle. You can only publish select stories individually not as a collection. You do not have the right to treat taxpayer money as your own or to lie to the taxpayers about what youre doing with that money. DHS went on camera with WLBT to answer questions about what happened and what theyve changed to prevent the problem from happening again. Wooten said it appears as if the officials are attempting to try Davis case in the media. We center readers in everything we do, informingand engagingMississippians through reporting, podcasts, events and online communities. The indictments, which were returned by a Hinds County grand jury, include a range of violations involving fraud and embezzlement, White said in a news release. Here's an attempt to connect the players and what little is known thus far of the plot in this shameful drama: Thats to be open with how funds are distributed and who theyre going to.. Phil Bryant and other officials in his home state in order to influence roughly $8 million in welfare payments for himself, pharmaceutical company Prevacus, and a volleyball court for the University of Southern Mississippi, according to an expose published last week Mississippi Todaythough Favre has not been charged criminally or accused of a crime. Check back for updates. There really hadnt been the internal auditing capability, the program integrity ability before that we had at that point that was created, explained DHS Chief Communications Officer Danny Blanton. People may have identified or suspected that something was amiss but, because of the atmosphere of fear and intimidation, they were afraid to say anything for fear of losing their jobs, noted Blanton. Under the plea agreement, the State recommends that Davis be sentenced to 90 years with 32 years of that sentence to be served in prison, as well as be required to pay restitution in the amount of. DiBiase is the son of well-known former pro wrestler Ted DiBiase. Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. Anne McGrew is the accountant for the Mississippi Community Education Center. She received the National Press Foundations 2020 Poverty and Inequality Award. Johnson says he had heard rumblings from other employees but didn't pay much attention. On Tuesday, Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Adrienne Wooten spoke strongly in defense of a gag order in the case of former welfare director John Davis, saying that media coverage of the scandal threatens the courts ability to assemble an impartial jury. Heres an attempt to connect the players and what little is known thus far of the plot in this shameful drama: Mississippi state auditors officials were to meet Monday with FBI agents to brief the Feds on the unfolding Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) embezzlement scandal. Blanton explained that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General had told the state agency not to interfere with its investigation and that the auditors office was already aware of the federal investigators involvement. So,there was nothing illegal about those transfers, only how it was spent after that. Follow him on Twitter @gbolognaCL. Johnson said, "Mr. Davis approached me and asked me did I not, did I not want to be there. Therefore, while doing our due diligence, Paul LaCoste was asked not to use Families First for Mississippis brand and his funding was suspended. The News also directed millions in public money to their private businesses, used the money personally, and concealed the transactions, according to the auditors. The cast of characters, villains and heroes, in the Mississippi Department of Human Resources (MDHS) case seems to grow by the hour. Officials charged Davis almost two years ago with conspiracy, embezzlement or fraud by a public official and making false statements to defraud the government. Photo gallery: Equestrian program at Mississippi College, Nurse recounts horrors inside a Yazoo City nursing home, Coverage of Mississippis sprawling welfare scandal, Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Founded in 2016 as the states first nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom, Mississippi Todays roots in Capitol coverage have grown to encompass a myriad of beats beyond politics and policy, including education, public health, justice, environment, equity, and, yes, sports. John Davis has been indicted in the largest embezzlement and fraud scheme in state history. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Mr. Michel took orders, and millions of dollars, from a Malaysian financier who sought to gain political influence in the U.S., prosecutors said. Read more. We received sign in sheets and some activities that had been conducted., To make sure before actually calling their hand on this, Webb continued, I contacted another licensed social worker with a masters degree who had been employed by them under our Families First grant. The defendants used a variety of business entities and schemes to defraud the taxpayers, investigators said. Any amount helps us keep producing quality journalism for Mississippi. Anderson recently told a reporter that his agency had reinstated the practice of sending letters to subgrantees who are suspected of misusing grant funds, which he said Davis administration had stopped. John Davis, several others face charges, arrested by state auditor's office. Ricky Jones, who has served as president of 100 Black Men of Jackson since March, said his organization just learned about the investigation last week when DHS notified them they would not be receiving a welfare grant this year. Reginald Johnson had been with MDHS since 2007. 0:27. (WLBT) - 3 On Your Side is learning more about how the former head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services ran the agency and treated employees. MDHS sits down to discuss the embezzlement case for the first time since the news broke a week ago. Auditor Shad White said his office is still attempting to determine the total amount of money involved, but the "sprawling conspiracy" already exceeds any embezzlement scheme in recent years. We look forward to this moving through the justice system to a final disposition.. We could not cease funding until we had that letter from the state auditor (in January 2020). NEMiss.NEWS was founded in 2014 and is a division of Shivimage, LLC, and began publishing in early 2015. Their own outcome reports that they sent the state each month, which were meant to show how many people they served, contained nonsensical figures, Mississippi Today first reported. Johnson returned to the office, but the next day when he came into work, he got the news. Tate Reeves appointed Anderson, former director of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Attorney Generals office, to clean up the agency in the aftermath. (T)heir immediate supervisor called a meeting with the staff in Myersville and told them that they had to document names of clients and activities performed in that center. Help keep the momentum going by rejoining our member community today. Webb attached a letter in her email to Davis, showing her organization had terminated their contract with WWISCAA. If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using. This spring, Le Creuset has introduced an exciting new shade thats already selling fast: shallot, a soft lavender with pink and slight gray undertones. We certainly do not want to falsely accuse. Anderson has ushered in new procurement practices and financial controls to increase accountability among the departments welfare grantees. After DHS employees reported their findings to the Governor, the State Auditor was notified and the investigation was launched. As we reported, the Mississippi Community Education Center or MCEC was a sub grantee receiving TANF dollars that first flowed through DHS. Although the total amount of money embezzled has not been determined, Auditor White characterized it as the largest public embezzlement case in state history.. Whites statement said John Davis, former head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, had been arrested and charged in connection with a multi-million-dollar embezzlement scheme.. Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. When I checked to see who the caller was Mr. Davis was passing by and he stopped and he asked me to put my phone away and which I complied.". In a statement, the Department of Human Services said it had self-reported the information that initiated this investigation to the governors office in June 2019. Bluff City Life. Mr. DiBiase never gave those classes, auditors said, because he was being treated for an opioid addiction at the Rise in Malibu rehab center in California. The purported messages also show a request from Favre asking members of the group to help to pay a $1 million debt Favre owed to the University of Southern Mississippi for the volleyball court he promised the school. A former Department of Human Services employee, Latimer Smith, 26, was also arrested, according to Mr. White. Please reload the page and try again. As a reminder, the scheme includes more than $4.15 million dollars in embezzled government money. All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. They said Mr. Davis, along with Ms. New and Mr. New, used some of the embezzled funds to invest in medical device companies. Nonprofits made most of these purchases, which obscured the spending from public view. JACKSON, Miss. We confirmed that it was John Davis who was making those approvals on the money. Davis attorney recently asked the court to extend an existing suppression order in his case to include White and Anderson, citing two recent articles Mississippi Today published about the case. Copyright 2020 WLBT. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. The Auditors office has made it clear that the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are still possible. One of the nonprofits, Mississippi Community Education Center, shuttered after law enforcement arrested its owner Nancy New, while officials at the other nonprofit, Family Resource Center of North Mississippi, have not faced criminal charges. They then converted funds to their personal use and concealed the conversion through various fund transfers, fraudulent documents, at least one forged signature and deceptive accounting measures, investigators said. 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