Home » Louisville daycare owner guilty of fraud, must pay $1.4M restitution to state

Louisville daycare owner guilty of fraud, must pay $1.4M restitution to state

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (March 21, 2016) – A former Louisville daycare owner plead guilty wire fraud and money laundering charges and agreed to pay $1,424,929.00 in restitution to the Kentucky Department for Community Based Services, U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn Jr. announced.

Lottie Carisa Burgos, the former owner and operator of ABC Village Daycare, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court before District Judge Greg N. Stivers to 18 counts of an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on July 16, 2014.

“In committing this fraud, Ms. Burgos not only took taxpayer money intended to assist economically disadvantaged parents with childcare costs, but also placed infants and toddlers in harm’s way,” stated United States Attorney John Kuhn. “With this prosecution, we are protecting children and recovering stolen taxpayer money. I thank the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their work on this case.”

Burgos operated ABC Village Daycare at two Louisville locations, 1801 West Market St. and 2823 7th Street Road. According to the plea agreement, Burgos or others acting at her direction falsified a wide range of information that was a condition of payment for child care services from Kentucky’s Department for Community Based Services.

The Department for Community Based Services provides child care benefits to low-income working parents and guardians. Burgos or others acting at her direction falsified the following information: high school diplomas which are a requirement of child care staff with supervisory authority over minors; negative tuberculosis tests and CPR certificates of ABC Village Daycare employees; the employment status of parents; the number of children who attended the daycare centers; and the number of days children attended the daycare centers.

Further, Burgos committed wire fraud on occasions ranging from January 1, 2011, through March 31, 2013. The fraud is associated with payments from the Department for Community Based Services totaling $275,576. The total loss was $1,424,929.00.

Burgos also pleaded guilty to six counts of money laundering. Burgos engaged in various financial transactions with money derived from her wire-fraud scheme on six different occasions ranging from September 2011 through May 2012.

Burgos faces a maximum sentence of 300 years in prison, a maximum fine of $4,500,000, and up to 3 years of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled before Judge Stivers on June 9, 2016, in Louisville.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weiser and was investigated by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.