The Wisconsin Department of Justice announced Friday the formation of a task force to investigate the Wisconsin Shares Child Care program for possible fraud involving families and day care providers receiving government subsidies.
“This is another step forward to restoring integrity to a program that provides a basic necessity to families, which is that their children are being cared for by someone who keeps them safe and has the children’s best interests at heart,” said Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, in a statement Friday.
In order for families to receive subsidies or funds from the government, the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families evaluates requirements such as family status, employment and family income.
A report from the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau showed in a random sample of 400 families receiving subsidies, there were inconsistencies in reported family incomes and employment records for 10.8 percent of the sample.
In addition to families receiving subsidies for which they were not eligible, the report included a random sample of 45 day care providers in which 22 were not entirely truthful about the attendance records of the children in their care.
Some of the day care providers claimed to have watched children for longer periods of time in order to be given more subsidies from the government.
With the new task force, the DOJ hopes to prevent giving subsidies to ineligible people like Milwaukee couple Willie and Pamela Kohlheim, who fraudulently received a total of $1.3 million from the government for their child-care center.
Willie Kohlheim claimed to be the proprietor of the child-care center, while Pamela Kohlheim, who has been previously convicted multiple times of dealing drugs and writing bad checks, was not allowed by the state to be involved in the center.
However, Pamela allegedly supervised the child-care center while Willie held a different job.
To receive such a large sum of money from the government, the Kohlheims allegedly gave falsified information to the Shares program. If convicted, Willie and Pamela Kohlheim will face up to 20 years in prison and $1 million in fines.
While Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, supports the task force, he said he believes Gov. Jim Doyle could have investigated the situation sooner, noting that information in the budget three years ago indicating a problem with the Shares program was ignored.
“I think it is better late than never for this to be happening,” Vos said. “The Doyle administration is only taking action now because of the [Milwaukee Journal Sentinal] investigation.”
Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, agreed the task force is a good start, but he is also frustrated with the actions of the Shares program.
“I am frankly disappointed that the program has not fired a single person,” Suder said. “No one has been reprimanded.”
However, Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, is confident the task force will work quickly and efficiently.
“We have put cheats on notice and made aggressive changes to Wisconsin’s laws, providing the state and the Department of Children and Families with the necessary tools and resources to pursue fraudulent providers,” Rep. Grigsby said Friday in a statement.
