Kansas City daycare owner sentenced to prison for defrauding government of $550,000
The owner of a Kansas City daycare was sentenced Thursday to nearly five years in prison for his role in defrauding the federal government of more than $500,000.
Sharif Karie, 41, of Olathe, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Kansas City to four years and 10 months in federal prison. In January, a jury found him guilty of 29 crimes that included conspiracy and theft of government money.
Karie was the owner of the facility that operated under the names of Karie Day Care Center and Tima Child Care Center at 1019 Admiral Blvd. It is now closed.
Karie had been accused of defrauding a federal government program that provides daycare subsidies to low-income families. He was found guilty of billing the program for more hours and children than actually attended the center.
A co-defendant, Sheri Beamon, who was director of the child care business, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to steal public money. She is expected to be sentenced next week.
Federal prosecutors said the conspiracy lasted from October 2013 to June 2016, resulting in a loss of $536,833 to the Missouri Department of Health and Social Services.
Karie received assistance from Section 8, funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The scheme resulted in a loss of more than $40,000 to the housing authority, according to federal prosecutors.
In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri said the prosecution was the result of a “nationwide sweep that targeted child care center fraud schemes,” an investigation that operated in six other states.
As part of the investigation, cameras captured video footage of the Kansas City daycare’s entrances.
Comparing the children seen being dropped off and picked up on the footage, investigators found “significant discrepancies” between the video, timesheets and claims submitted, according to prosecutors.
Even fire evacuation records were faked, prosecutors said. Records indicated a fire drill took place, but the pole cameras installed near the daycare center showed the drill never took place.
Karie Day Care Center never met minimum health and safety standards by Missouri law, according to court documents.
As the state was shutting down Karie, Tima Child Care Center was started, prosecutors said. But had the state known Karie was running the business, a license would not have been approved, court records said.
A review of the daycare center’s billing for parts of 2014 showed nearly all of the children enrolled for services there were those of employees, a violation of state regulation, prosecutors said.
