-Caveat Lector- Fraud Found in Food Program By BART JANSEN .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal and state officials are vowing to keep closer tabs on companies that supply meals to millions of children and adults at day-care centers after a lengthy investigation found providers funneling money into their own pockets. The Agriculture Department's program provides about $1.7 billion annually to serve meals to about 2.4 million children and adults. But after a 2 1/2-year investigation called Operation Kiddie Care, the final audit released Wednesday by Inspector General Roger Viadero found severe problems. So far, 44 people have been charged with defrauding the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and 28 have been convicted. The convictions resulted in orders for $18,000 in fines, $4.2 million in restitution and $1.1 million in forfeited assets. Criminal activities included sponsors setting up fictitious day-care centers with fake names for children, putting no-show relatives on the payroll and extorting funds from legitimate day-care facilities. Shirley Watkins, undersecretary of agriculture, said failure to follow proper reporting procedures was to blame in some cases. But in cases that sparked criminal investigations in 14 states, she acknowledged that some providers simply were disreputable and must be removed. ``We recognized we had some problems,'' she said. ``I'm committed to complying with this as aggressively as I need to.'' In California, which had 19 of the 44 criminal indictments, officials at the state Department of Education have reorganized their staff and are hiring five more auditors to keep closer watch over the providers. Officials also are going to start estimating where financial problems might crop up to catch them ahead of time. ``I'm totally committed to making improvements in our program so that these types of things are caught early on and that we deal severely with agencies that do commit fraud,'' said Glenn Ostapeck, who was hired as director of audits after federal investigators had completed most of their work. Under the program, the federal government distributes funding to intermediaries, who are called sponsors. The sponsors spend part of the money for administrative costs and are supposed to pass along the rest to day-care centers for meals. In one of the worst cases, Kyung Ho Moon and Wan Hee Moon, husband-and-wife owners of Pacific Asian American Family Care Inc. in Long Beach, Calif., pleaded guilty to funneling payments to nonexistent workers and bogus businesses. Wan Hee Moon had spent a decade overseeing the program in Southern California as a manager at the state Department of Education. She was fired after being charged. She was sentenced to three years in prison and her husband was given two years. They were ordered to pay $2.2 million in restitution, and they forfeited four properties, including a house that sold for $415,000. In other cases, audits of years 1996 and 1997 revealed shoddy record-keeping and oversight that allowed problems to fester for years without required state-level audits. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
