Arizona Charges Utah Residents in $110,000 School Choice Fraud Scheme

By Staff Reporter |

Two residents from Utah face serious legal consequences after being indicted for defrauding Arizona’s school choice program. Authorities have charged Johnny Lee Bowers and Ashley Meredith Hewitt, also known as Ashley Hopkins, with stealing approximately $110,000 between December 2022 and May 2023.

According to Attorney General Kris Mayes, Bowers and Hewitt allegedly misappropriated funds from the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program for their personal living expenses while residing in Colorado. Their current whereabouts are believed to be in Utah.

Investigators found that the duo submitted fraudulent applications to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) for both real and fictitious children. They reportedly faked supporting documentation, including birth certificates and utility bills, for 43 non-existent children and seven actual children. Bowers and Hewitt are said to have registered these applications under both their names and various aliases, referred to as “ghost parents.”

The fabricated identities included fictitious surnames such as Gil, Cole, Diaz, and Dobbs, along with a family name associated with Hewitt. The charges include conspiracy and fraudulent schemes exceeding $100,000, classified as class two felonies, along with 58 counts of forgery, classified as a class four felony.

Arizona Superintendent Tom Horne commented on the indictments, noting that the fraud was uncovered thanks to an auditor he appointed to oversee the ESA Program. Horne highlighted that this role was not established under the previous administration. He emphasized his commitment to eliminating fraud within the program and his office’s collaboration with the Attorney General’s team to address the issue effectively.

This indictment follows a related case earlier this year where five individuals faced charges in a $600,000 scheme, utilizing false birth certificates and disability documents for 17 fictitious children. Those indicted include Dolores Sweet, Dorrian Jones, Jennifer Lopez, Jadakah Johnson, and Raymond Johnson Jr.

In that earlier case, Sweet supposedly approved applications for three fictitious children while serving as an ESA account specialist. Both Johnsons are her actual adult children. Lopez and Jones also faced similar allegations during their tenures with ADE, all ultimately discovered by Horne’s auditor.

During a recent meeting, Superintendent Horne identified ESA reimbursements as a prevalent problem for the ADE, citing inadequate staffing that has led to lengthy processing times. He expressed concern that a policy change allowing reimbursements for tuition payments could be contributing to the fraud issues. This change involved a previous system that paid through ClassWallet and a new approach of reimbursing smaller purchases automatically, which led to the discovery of several account holders purchasing large amounts of Amazon gift cards using ESA funds.

As of mid-November, the ESA program serves over 83,000 enrolled students, highlighting the importance of maintaining integrity and transparency within the funding system.