So the saga of the "Quality Learing Center" in Minneapolis - the one exposed by Nick Shirley two weeks ago - continues and splatters into new areas of fraud, mismanagement and, just maybe, mismanaged fraud.
The day after Shirley's reporting went public, reporter Lou Raguse - with the Twin Cities' NBC affiliate, and one of the very few Minnesota mainstream journos that have genuinely dug into the story - noted something unusual: the daycare, which had been closed the day before, was suddenly crawling with kids:
The New York Post has learned that the daycare is now permanently closed...again:
The much-ridiculed day care, which operated under a misspelled sign until it was fixed last month amid national outrage, closed Tuesday after it requested a closure of its license, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF).
The center found itself under the national spotlight after conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley featured the facility in a video highlighting day care centers in the state that were allegedly receiving public funds but were not providing any services...While the owner blamed the error on a graphic design snafu, the image became an instant meme, with US Education Secretary Linda McMahon claiming the center was part of the widespread fraud scheme taking place in Minnesota’s Somali community.
But when Raguse's video came out, people started asking - what's with all those vans?
They're part of a large, partially legitimate industry - providing transportation to people who can't transport themselves. The larger part is called "Non-Emergency Medical Transportation" - providing rides to doctor appointments and other medical procedures to people without cars, who are too immobile for public transit, and can't pay for Ubers or cabs. They're usually owners of private cars and vans that contract with companies that arrange the trips and bill insurance companies, Medicare, or Medicaid. And since a car is a car and a van is a van, those same cars and vans can be used to transport children who are homeless or highly mobile (HHM - it's literally a government term), who can't be served by existing school busing systems that need stable addresses for their routes.
And like anything else where unscrupulous people might potentially submit bills to organizations that do not have the time, resources or bureaucratic imperative to follow up on every order, they appear to be a little fraud-prone.
Or a lot fraud-prone. Transportation consultant Rob Carpenter did some digging into the company that owns the vans that dropped the kids off at the "daycare center":
MEISA Transportation Services LLC vehicles were among those that arrived at Quality Learning Center and other Minneapolis-area daycares on Dec. 29, dropping off dozens of children shortly before state auditors conducted site visits. The daycares had mainly appeared empty in viral video footage recorded days earlier by independent journalist Nick Shirley.
The company’s principal officer, Abedelhalim Lawabni, and his sister, Nohad Loabneh, were charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona on May 27, 2020, with conspiring to commit healthcare fraud. Federal prosecutors alleged the siblings falsely billed Arizona’s Health Care Cost Containment System for non-emergency medical transports that never happened, generating $2.75 million in fraudulent Medicaid payments.
Seems nobody can contact MEISA Transportation.
Now, three senior bosses at Minneapolis Public Schools' finance department have been placed on administrative leave:
Administration of the state’s fourth largest school district placed the three leaders on leave Friday, according to the two people familiar with the moves. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The officials placed on leave are Ibrahima Diop, senior finance officer; Tarior Chapinduka, executive director of finance; and Aaron Gilbert, controller.
And among other finance management and compliance issues, Diop signed the contracts with MEISA and other transportation companies under investigation for, well, not transporting.
According to records, Diop signed off on MEISA contract increases of $1 million, $1.5 million, and $500,000 in recent years. Contract agreements also require school board approval.
When Alpha News asked the district to confirm Diop’s status and whether his leave relates in any way to transportation vendors or contracting decisions, MPS replied: “Due to data privacy laws, Minneapolis Public Schools cannot comment at this time.” Past inquiries to Diop have gone unanswered.
Neither HHM nor "non-emergency medical transportation" has been especially investigated yet. It's got to be coming soon.
