This daycare fraud case from right here in North Carolina will blow your mind.
For years, this couple of sleazebags conspired to grift taxpayer money from the government, sometimes by endangering children entrusted in their care. Again and again, state inspectors shut down their scams - but the couple was allowed to just start a new one, often targeting a different program.
In their first, they started a daycare. State inspectors cited them repeatedly for major and deliberate hazards. For example, during one visit, inspectors found the daycare was using an OPEN HEATED OVEN as a heating source around 1 year olds, since the center's heat had been turned off (for lack of payment).
Fortunately, North Carolina inspectors shut down their daycare before anyone was hurt.
But then, the couple launched a new scam. This one targeted a federal program run by the USDA that subsidizes healthy food for kids in daycares. Basically, their scam falsified and forged documents, over-billing the federal government for some meals and even for kids who didn't exist.
They added family members to their payroll, billing the government for their salaries. The wife doubled her own salary, charging the government. This went on for years. It's still unknown exactly how much they stole - but a state audit of just 3 months of their records dug up over $130,000 in fake charges. So you do the math.
Finally, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services shut them down and took them to court, demanding repayment of over $100,000. They couldn't (or didn't) cough up with the money, and they've now been referred to a collections agency.
This couple is @markrobinsonNC and his wife Yolanda, the former second couple of North Carolina. They still haven't paid up their debt to society.