Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations,
Topline: A North Dakota woman was convicted last month of five counts of theft for stealing $131,000 in state grants meant for after-school programs.
Key facts: Faith Dixon, 47, was one of the top recipients of $2 million that the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction awarded in October 2021 for its Out of School Time program to support children impacted by school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Her nonprofit, Faith4Hope, instead sent the funds to her then-husband's food stand, her brother's music and production company and her sister-in-law's dance studio, according to court documents reviewed by InForum.
Dixon's lawyers claimed she disbursed the money in "good faith" to help children, despite the conflicts of interest. But assistant attorney general Jeremy Ensrud showed some of the funds were spent on Dixon's own "day-to-day living expenses."
Dixon's ex-husband pleaded guilty to theft last year. He admitted the grants to his food stand were not spent on providing culinary classes to children, as he promised the state.
Dixon's other family members truly did spend their grants on helping children, Ensrud told InForum.
Last October, Dixon took a plea deal that would have sent her to prison for only 4 to 11 months, but she backed out because she had received "bad legal advice." Now, she will serve 4 to 10 years.
In her original grant application, Dixon said her nonprofit "reimagines what after-school looks like. We provide participants in middle school, junior high school, and high school with free, comprehensive after-school programs, transformative experiences, and mentoring that support students in developing skills and habits needed to help them succeed in school."
State investigators argued that was untrue. The Department of Public Instruction visited Faith4Hope's office eight times during its operating hours, but found that the office was closed and "no children were present," according to court documents.
Summary: It's unlikely that every instance of fraud from the Covid-19 pandemic will be uncovered, but the fact that wrongdoing is still being found years later speaks to the massive mismanagement of public funds that occurred.