A Kentwood woman was sentenced for defrauding the government in a childcare scheme.

Janice Fultz-Gardner, 46, Kentwood, was sentenced to serve twelve months and one day in prison, three years of supervised release and has already paid restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services totaling $55,636 and the Department of Labor totaling $22,850.

Gardner’s co-defendant, Shirley Freeman, 51, Amite, was sentenced on November 13 to five years probation and ordered to pay restitution to DOL $60,055, following her plea to theft from employment and training funds.  Co-defendant, Lafete Tucker, age 45, a resident of Amite, LA, is set to be sentenced on January 22 also on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

According to court documents, Tucker, while a client service manager employed by the Louisiana Workforce Investment Act in Tangipahoa Parish, submitted false vouchers to the federal government for services not rendered and expenses not incurred.  Through this scheme, Tucker unlawfully received approximately $104,000 from the DOL and $10,200 from the DHHS.

Gardner, a former client service manager for LWIA and owner of Building Blocks Early Learning Center, in Tangipahoa Parish, a facility that provides parenting training and child care, submitted fraudulent vouchers alleging the lease of computers and office equipment which were never leased resulting in her unlawful receipt of approximately $55,636.  Additionally, Gardner submitted fraudulent vouchers for payment regarding social services not rendered and unlawfully received approximately $22,850 from the DOL.

Freeman, the owner of Cribs to Crayons, a DOL funded childcare facility, was prohibited from receiving reimbursement from both the DOL and the DHHS for rendering the same child care services.  Between December 2002 and May 2003, Freeman submitted vouchers to the DOL and the DHHS attesting that she provided child care for the same children at the same time thereby unlawfully obtaining approximately $60,000 in duplicate child care reimbursement from the DOL.