Arizona grand jury indicts pair for alleged school voucher fraud

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona grand jury has indicted two out-of-state residents for allegedly applying to the state’s private school voucher program as parents to 50 children – 43 of whom did not exist – and receiving more than $110,000.

The duo collected the money by submitting false, forged or fraudulent documents and spent it on personal living expenses in Colorado, according to an indictment released Monday by Attorney General Kris Mayes.

The voucher program — Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account — has been a source of political tension for years. It expanded vastly in 2022 when then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, signed legislation to allow all parents in the state to take money that would go to local public schools and instead use it on private school tuition or other education costs.

The program is championed by many Republicans and advocates of the school choice movement. But many Democrats, including Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, have called for the program’s overhaul as its costs have skyrocketed. Hobbs has also criticized the program for funding what she called luxury items, including ski resort passes and pianos.

The grand jury in Maricopa County handed down the indictment Nov. 12, charging Johnny Lee Bowers and Ashley Meredith Hewitt each with 60 felony counts, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery. The Associated Press left voice messages at numbers listed for Bowers and Hewitt, also known as Ashley Hopkins, seeking comment late Monday.

According to the indictment, the two received the money by submitting applications for school vouchers between December 2022 and May 2024, using the names of both real and fictitious children, purportedly as parents and by using “ghost” names of parents.

Some of the made-up children’s names in their applications included Louis Dobbs, Tucker Gil and Poppy Fox. The “false, forged, or fraudulent” documents included birth certificates, utility bills and lease agreements, according to the indictment.

Mayes’ office said that Bowers and Hewitt now appear to reside in Utah.

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Gabriel Sandoval is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Gabriel Sandoval, The Associated Press