ESA “Ghost Children” Fraud Uncovered by Department of Education Results in Convictions

State schools chief Tom Horne credited his staff with the conviction of two people on charges of fraud using Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) dollars for “ghost children.”

Horne slammed Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for taking credit when the convictions could have only happened “because the Department of Education discovered the activity in 2024 and referred it for prosecution.”

Johnny Bowers pleaded guilty in the “ghost children” case to Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, a Class 2 Felony, and Forgery, a Class 4 Felony, and his co-defendant, Ashley Hewitt, a.k.a. Ashley Hopkins, also plead guilty to Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, a Class 2 Felony.

From December 4, 2022, to about May 3, 2024, Johnny and Ashley worked together to defraud Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (“ESA”) program by submitting forged birth certificates, forged utility bills, and other documents, to receive ESA funding. The defendants received a total of $110,258.28 for their fraudulent ESA applications for over 40 children, both real and fictitious, all while living in Colorado. They were indicted in November 2024.

“In a recent television interview, state Attorney General Chris Mayes outrageously and mindlessly accused me of permitting improper purchases such as lingerie and diamonds. If she paid attention to her job or even to the news, she would know that this was a false charge,” said Horne.

“To date we have collected or referred for collection more than $622,000 in improper purchases under the program where purchases for under $2,000 are paid but not approved immediately, subject to later audit. That method, called risk-based auditing, is a common practice in many federal and state agencies and is dictated by state law,” boasted Horne. Without this program, reimbursements for expenditures would take over two months, putting a terrible burden on parents who have paid money and are entitled to reimbursements.”

According to Horne, the Department of Education has “won 16 appeals of improper expenses such as dune buggies, golf simulators and other unallowable items.”

Horne claims that “in all those cases, the department has not received any support from the Attorney General’s office to ensure anyone who tried to defraud the system is held accountable. That appeals work is being done entirely by the Department of Education, and we have won them all.”

“The Department of Education has the same number of people authorized to review purchases as it had when it had one-tenth as man participants in the ESA program. The 12 people assigned to this task work very hard and courageously and can process 500 per day even though they get 1000 requests every day. Without this program, reimbursements for expenditures would take over two months, putting a terrible burden on parents who have paid money and are entitled to reimbursements,” complained Horne.

“In the most recent legislative session, the House of Representatives budget had an item for more people in the Department of Education doing this work, but Governor Katie Hobbs told them that if they did not remove it, she would veto the budget. As a result, they felt they had to remove it, because at that stage an unapproved budget would have resulted in a government shutdown,” explained Horne. “I am committed to doing everything possible to protect taxpayer resources and root out fraud and abuse.”

“Fraud in the ESA program will not be tolerated,” said Mayes. “Those who exploit government systems for personal gain will be held accountable. My office will continue to aggressively prosecute fraud and protect taxpayer dollars.”

Sentencing for both defendants is scheduled on Friday, October 24, at 9:30 a.m.