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MKE daycare owner under investigation for diverting federal money into private account

Posted at 5:16 PM, May 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-22 18:16:42-04

Federal agents have seized a bank account belonging to the owner of a Milwaukee daycare after investigators say he diverted federal money into a secret account and then spent that money on travel and leisure.

The daycare in question is called the Learning Through Technology Childcare Academy, located near 76th Street and Fond du Lac Avenue.

The facility receives federal money disbursed through the Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy Programas well as federal reimbursements through the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program.

According to a federal warrant application, a minority owner at the daycare opened a bank account without telling the majority owner and then began diverting money into the secret account.

Over the past seven months, investigators say that secret account received nearly $400,000 in payments from those federal programs.

Investigators cite bank records that say money from that account was then spent on, "...golf courses, airlines, hotels, 'high-end' retail stores, sporting ticket distributors, liquor stores and bars."

In early May, court documents say that man told federal investigators he had transferred $275,000 from the secret account he set up into his personal checking account.

A supervisor at the daycare declined to comment Monday and the individual in question could not be found.

Since no charges have been filed, TODAY's TMJ4 is not naming the owner under investigation.

The Department of Children and Families says there's no evidence that the Wisconsin Shares program was defrauded. The money in question was only taken after the facility legally received the funds.

 

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