Frederica Freyberg:
But first, fraud in the government-subsidized child care program for low-income families in Wisconsin, fraud to the tune of more than $20 million in one year alone. How did we get here? What are we doing about it? And what is the reaction to the crackdown on fraud in Wisconsin Shares? Over the next several episodes of "Here & Now," we'll examine this "Money Matters" issue, starting tonight.  

Radio:
Welcome to the evening rush. The dog at the top. You're listening to 1290 WMCS, the talk of the town.

Frederica Freyberg:
Fraud in the Wisconsin Shares program has become the talk of the town in Milwaukee, where thousands make their living providing state-subsidized child care.

Man:
Right now in our community, I don't have to tell people what their businesses basically are. Either liquor stores, barbershops, churches and day care centers.

Frederica Freyberg:
Radio host Earl Ingram and everyone in the city knows day care centers are ubiquitous here.

Frederica Freyberg:
In Milwaukee, when you’re driving around it really does seem like there's a day care on every corner. There’s one. It’s called Watch Me Grow. Here's another one on this corner.  

Frederica Freyberg:
Their surge in numbers concurrent with the implementation of Wisconsin's welfare reform program started in the mid-'90s that gives state subsidies to low-income families to pay for child care. The program known as Wisconsin Shares has tripled in size, to nearly $400 million in a 10-year period. Of the 9,000 day care providers across Wisconsin being reimbursed by these government payments, more than 2,000 are in Milwaukee.  

Jim Doyle:
You know, when this program was created in the 1990s, I don't think it was anyone's fault, but it was simply created on a different philosophy, which was the state should stay completely out of it, that people should have, if they're providing child care, they should send in the notice and the state would send the checks out.

Frederica Freyberg:
The problem with that, Gov. Jim Doyle says, is it opened the door to fraud.

Reggie Bicha:
The extent of the fraud is significant, especially in Milwaukee County, our largest county. The Legislative Audit Bureau did an audit earlier this year, and they identified estimates of well over $20 million a year that is being spent fraudulently.

Alberta Darling:
It's outrageous that we as a state aren't more accountable for taxpayers' money, aren't more accountable for how the money is really being used.

Frederica Freyberg:
But just how is the fraud perpetrated?

Henry Wilde:
The way that we've seen fraudulent child care grow is providers go out and recruit parents who have a large number of children. Do you have five children? Do you have six children? Okay. I have this proposition for you. In situations like that, a fraudulent provider is identified. Two or three parents who have five children each can go from zero revenue to $100,000 of annualized revenue in a minute. 

Frederica Freyberg:
Investigators say providers would troll for women who had lots of children in tow at the Milwaukee welfare office, for example. Because each child in day care is worth up to $200 a week in government subsidies.

Henry Wilde:
So the fraudulent provider would say, don't bother bringing your children over to my house to watch your own children. Instead, I'll just pay you what amounts to a fee as opposed to a wage, and you can just stay home with your kids.

Frederica Freyberg:
In other words, they are saying they are caring for children and getting state subsidies to do so but in fact are not?

Reggie Bicha:
Many of them that is true, or not caring for the number of children that they report to be caring for. So we've gone to other child care centers where there may be two or three children, but they've been reporting for months that they're caring for 30, 40, 50 children.

Frederica Freyberg:
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first blew the lid off this fraud, causing the state to take a closer look.

Earl Ingram:
She's in the studio. How you doing?

Latasha Jackson Wilder:
I'm doing great.

Frederica Freyberg:
Perhaps the poster provider who got everyone's attention was this woman, Latasha Jackson Wilder, appearing here on Earl Ingram's radio program.

Latasha Jackson Wilder:
Basically I was treated very, very, very unfairly in this matter.

Frederica Freyberg:
Because Jackson says the newspaper reported that as a Milwaukee day care provider, she had apparently amassed great fortune on the backs of Wisconsin Shares' subsidy payments. Her $1.4 million suburban mansion was pictured on the front page. Details of her fancy vehicles were part of the reporter’s story.

Latasha Jackson Wilder:
She getting everybody in an outrage because she saying that we're taking taxpayers' dollars. For the record, we pay more taxes than I could think about. I mean, it's a lot of overhead that we have.

Frederica Freyberg:
In fact, Jackson Wilder operated five day care centers in Milwaukee and was licensed for 134 children before the state revoked her license last summer for alleged violations, including subsidy overpayment. A hearing examiner ruled the state erred in its revocation and Jackson continues her fight to get the license back. But Jackson is also under criminal investigation by federal authorities in connection with her day care businesses. She has not been charged. According to a federal search warrant, a detective interviewed a Somali immigrant who worked for Jackson in 2009, saying she was one of many Somali women and that as a condition of being employed there she had to enroll her children. The documents also say a witness reports the state was billed for her children, but the children were actually living in Indiana. According to the state, Latasha Jackson was paid nearly $3 million in child care payments from 2002 to 2009. Authorities conducted a search of Jackson's closed down day care center in January and seized attendance and other records. Now, they would have searched her home, but it burned nearly to the ground in late December. The state fire marshal is investigating the fire as suspicious. Jackson Wilder would not speak to us on camera because of the ongoing investigation, but she did tell us she believes someone torched her home and says, “I hope they find the scumbag.” She says she expects to reopen her child care business with Wisconsin Shares payments, as she has become a business mom role model for the children of our city. As for accusations of fraud against her, she says, “How dare they slander my character and good name.” She calls the antifraud crackdown a witch hunt.

Latasha Jackson Wilder:
That seems like what's been going on lately, since they've been on that little witch hunt.

Frederica Freyberg:
The state has suspended payments and effectively shut down about 150 child care providers since September, most of them in Milwaukee. Sixty providers in the city had their licenses revoked in the last year.  

Reggie Bicha:
The jig is up. If you've been ripping off the program for years, you need to stop. We will find you. We know how the game is played. We are working aggressively, sharing information, and we will hold you accountable.  

Frederica Freyberg:
This week authorities lodged criminal theft by fraud charges against two Milwaukee child care providers. Next week, a closer look at the new antifraud arsenal the state is using to crack down. Details of a nearly million dollar case of theft from Wisconsin Shares. And then two weeks from tonight, a city responds, some calling the crackdown on fraud a fraud.