Attorney General Wins $539,000 Judgment against Couple for Fraudulently Enrolling Children in DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a family that has had 3 children in DCPS and now a highly sought after charter. They live in PG but feel entitled to DC schools because the wife owns a house in DC. They are also a family that is part of the religious establishment. However, they think nothing of committing fraud and clearly don't practice what they preach (literally).

I think that we know the same family. Tyler elementary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a family that has had 3 children in DCPS and now a highly sought after charter. They live in PG but feel entitled to DC schools because the wife owns a house in DC. They are also a family that is part of the religious establishment. However, they think nothing of committing fraud and clearly don't practice what they preach (literally).

I think that we know the same family. Tyler elementary?

Report them for Christ's sake!

[Anonymous]

I get what they did was illegal, but if it was truly about cops/commute, wouldn't it make sense for DC to have a program for law enforcement/fire department to be able to place theirkids in schools close to their precincts, perhaps for a small "tuition" fee? DC really needs good cops and fire/rescue workers. Their kids are likely the tyoe of students who would be assets to this failing school system, as would having law enforcement officers who were personally invested in the local schools being safe and effective due to their own kids attending the schools.

I still thik tripling the fine is ridiculous given the victimless nature of the crime.



I agree with all of this, and do think police officers and fire/rescue workers should have special consideration for attending schools near work. And although I don't agree it's a victimless crime (overcrowded classrooms are a real problem that directly affect properly enrolled students and their parents), I too think triple damages is harsh.

[Anonymous]

Whether they should get future consideration in the future, they flouted the rules for years and with multiple children.

When DC filed the case against them, they should have tried to settle. Instead they let it go all the way to trial, and got the maximum penalty, including triple damages.

Harsh or not, they took a big risk and paid for it. I'm not sympathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The notion of the 'ancestral' home which entitles one to adopt whatever residence is most convenient is strong and pervasive. It's a truly foreign concept to newer residents to DC but it's real.

That doesn't make it remotely defensible.

What about their rights as citizens of Maryland or Virginia? If I reside in those places, pay taxes there, and expect certain services as a citizen of that state. How does that entitle me to services of a state in which I do not reside nor pay taxes? This isn't like reciprocity for library cards across jurisdiction. This is like expecting DPW to haul your bulk trash from your Maryland home to Ft Totten, or DFD to put out the fire in your MD home. You move out of one state you do not retain any claims to its taxpayer exclusive services, not in the near term and not in perpetuity.

I'm the PPP. Not defending it. But somehow you need to get into the heads and hearts of these people if this is going to stop. Because it's pretty easy to use your parents (kids' grandparents') address as an official school address and get away with it.

How is it easy? You have to have one bill at the ancestral in your name or have a car registered there in your name (which I guess is the easiest part; you could pay your mom's water bill or car registration) plus have a driver's license with that address. The driver's license seems like the hardest part . . . don't you want a VA or MD license so you can use public pools/facilities near where you live without paying a fee? Or when you go to the bank or somewhere, don't they usually ask if the address on your license is current? I've had police give me some grief during traffic stops about having an old license (with my old address) -- telling me I need to get a new license, etc. It just seems to me like maintaining the paperwork required to prove DC residency is a PITA . . . hard to believe that people do this and think it is normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The notion of the 'ancestral' home which entitles one to adopt whatever residence is most convenient is strong and pervasive. It's a truly foreign concept to newer residents to DC but it's real.

That doesn't make it remotely defensible.

What about their rights as citizens of Maryland or Virginia? If I reside in those places, pay taxes there, and expect certain services as a citizen of that state. How does that entitle me to services of a state in which I do not reside nor pay taxes? This isn't like reciprocity for library cards across jurisdiction. This is like expecting DPW to haul your bulk trash from your Maryland home to Ft Totten, or DFD to put out the fire in your MD home. You move out of one state you do not retain any claims to its taxpayer exclusive services, not in the near term and not in perpetuity.

I'm the PPP. Not defending it. But somehow you need to get into the heads and hearts of these people if this is going to stop. Because it's pretty easy to use your parents (kids' grandparents') address as an official school address and get away with it.

How is it easy? You have to have one bill at the ancestral in your name or have a car registered there in your name (which I guess is the easiest part; you could pay your mom's water bill or car registration) plus have a driver's license with that address. The driver's license seems like the hardest part . . . don't you want a VA or MD license so you can use public pools/facilities near where you live without paying a fee? Or when you go to the bank or somewhere, don't they usually ask if the address on your license is current? I've had police give me some grief during traffic stops about having an old license (with my old address) -- telling me I need to get a new license, etc. It just seems to me like maintaining the paperwork required to prove DC residency is a PITA . . . hard to believe that people do this and think it is normal.

Utility bill + car registration. No driver's license needed.

Or have one parent on a DC driver's license and the other with a MD driver's license for other purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does not make sense is why anyone would go to such lengths to send their kids to DC public schools when they have the option of either Maryland or Virginia schools.

Tripling the amount is excessive though. It should be the amount of "tuition" plus a fine per kid.

The parents are police officers and the kids attended Eaton, Deal, and Wilson which were all convenient to their work places.

Aren't those schools just middling to average when you compare them to Arlington, fcps & montgomery county schools?

I get what they did was illegal, but if it was truly about cops/commute, wouldn't it make sense for DC to have a program for law enforcement/fire department to be able to place theirkids in schools close to their precincts, perhaps for a small "tuition" fee? DC really needs good cops and fire/rescue workers. Their kids are likely the tyoe of students who would be assets to this failing school system, as would having law enforcement officers who were personally invested in the local schools being safe and effective due to their own kids attending the schools.

I still thik tripling the fine is ridiculous given the victimless nature of the crime.

This. Their lives at pretty much ruined by that fantastical sum they'll be paying off forever. Their kids' college money, their retirement, gone. I am not supporting fraud, but I know how impossible it can be for working families to juggle shifts, kids, and life. I don't really blame anyone for doing what they can--we all do.

Of course. I also think dc is a ridiculous place that makes ridiculous distinctions between itself and Maryland... And should jsut be a part of Maryland already.

And no, for the trillionth time: not a pg resident. We live in the district. Send our kids to district schools. Zoned for deal and Wilson. Never needed prek3 here. Maybe that's my problem? I have no skin in this game. I don't feel cheated, except that I have to live in such a sad, vindictive, malarial swamp ass of a city.

Here's a solution: Move!

I truly pity people who don't/can't live where they want to live. How miserable...

I truly pity people who think this is a nice place. I've made my peace with how terrible it is here. It's usually amusing. And you all are always entertaining with your miserable striving schemes. And we have money, that does help. But the amount of joy some of you get from the suffering of others... Your righteous zealotry... I assume this is why you really went into politics? So you'd have an excuse to be insufferable?

It's funny.

cry me a river. "suffering of others"? Please. This was a 2 income family which owned at least one investment property. Cops don't generally get rich but it's a decent paying job with good benefits (how many DCUM posters have pensions?). I don't get the pathology in defending people who were caught red handed committing extensive fraud of government services. Above PP comparison to doctors bilking DC Medicare payments is an excellent example.

I'm not defending them. I'm mocking your schadenfreude. You know how you enjoy repeated ad nauseam that there are Maryland people cheating DC? I have come to enjoy pointing out that DC is full of miserable, entitled blowhards. Like you, who are pathetically obsessed with their own status, what someone else might have, and how life isn't fair. It is like the city on the hill, is the city on the hill of a giant pile of whine. Waahhh. We're not a state. Waaah, PG residents. Waaaahhhh.

[Anonymous]

Now that we've lived here for a few years, I'm not sure I'd trust DC with your car keys, let alone setting its own laws. Join Maryland. Face facts: WE ARE ALL IN MARYLAND RIGHT NOW.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure why DC doesn't require tax returns as a part of the registration process. I wanted to enroll my child at Sitar Arts Center and they were adamant that I needed to present the prior years' tax returns as proof of residency. I've been a DC resident for 15 years, so it was no problem at all. Why shouldn't the schools adopt this approach? It would stop a lot of fraud. And before anyone chimes in about undocumented families, they also do taxes. I know many families whom have been issued a tax payor ID number to be able to legitimately pay taxes (in lieu of a social security number). They can also present TANF documentation if tax docs are too troubling. Bottomline- DC needs to make fraud more difficult. Not sure why this hasn't happened. It's not rocket science. Also, for "unconventional families" (kids in-between both parents, raised by grandparents, etc...). This can be proactively provided during registration. Grandma can say, "I'm raising little Johnny- here's my guardianship paperwork, etc..." If it's all off-book, that's also a part of the problem. Requiring folks to paper up would solve residency issues, but also protect vulnerable kids. What if "grandma" is not legit and little Johnny is unsafe in her care? The registration process would peep that out and get Little Johnny the safety he needs/deserves. DC can do so much better than the current failing system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why DC doesn't require tax returns as a part of the registration process. I wanted to enroll my child at Sitar Arts Center and they were adamant that I needed to present the prior years' tax returns as proof of residency. I've been a DC resident for 15 years, so it was no problem at all. Why shouldn't the schools adopt this approach? It would stop a lot of fraud. And before anyone chimes in about undocumented families, they also do taxes. I know many families whom have been issued a tax payor ID number to be able to legitimately pay taxes (in lieu of a social security number). They can also present TANF documentation if tax docs are too troubling. Bottomline- DC needs to make fraud more difficult. Not sure why this hasn't happened. It's not rocket science. Also, for "unconventional families" (kids in-between both parents, raised by grandparents, etc...). This can be proactively provided during registration. Grandma can say, "I'm raising little Johnny- here's my guardianship paperwork, etc..." If it's all off-book, that's also a part of the problem. Requiring folks to paper up would solve residency issues, but also protect vulnerable kids. What if "grandma" is not legit and little Johnny is unsafe in her care? The registration process would peep that out and get Little Johnny the safety he needs/deserves. DC can do so much better than the current failing system.

So let's see, you're proposing completely re-writing the child welfare and custody laws just to stop a handful of fraudulent enrollments in DCPS? Ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does not make sense is why anyone would go to such lengths to send their kids to DC public schools when they have the option of either Maryland or Virginia schools.

Tripling the amount is excessive though. It should be the amount of "tuition" plus a fine per kid.

The parents are police officers and the kids attended Eaton, Deal, and Wilson which were all convenient to their work places.

Aren't those schools just middling to average when you compare them to Arlington, fcps & montgomery county schools?

I get what they did was illegal, but if it was truly about cops/commute, wouldn't it make sense for DC to have a program for law enforcement/fire department to be able to place theirkids in schools close to their precincts, perhaps for a small "tuition" fee? DC really needs good cops and fire/rescue workers. Their kids are likely the tyoe of students who would be assets to this failing school system, as would having law enforcement officers who were personally invested in the local schools being safe and effective due to their own kids attending the schools.

I still thik tripling the fine is ridiculous given the victimless nature of the crime.

This. Their lives at pretty much ruined by that fantastical sum they'll be paying off forever. Their kids' college money, their retirement, gone. I am not supporting fraud, but I know how impossible it can be for working families to juggle shifts, kids, and life. I don't really blame anyone for doing what they can--we all do.

Of course. I also think dc is a ridiculous place that makes ridiculous distinctions between itself and Maryland... And should jsut be a part of Maryland already.

And no, for the trillionth time: not a pg resident. We live in the district. Send our kids to district schools. Zoned for deal and Wilson. Never needed prek3 here. Maybe that's my problem? I have no skin in this game. I don't feel cheated, except that I have to live in such a sad, vindictive, malarial swamp ass of a city.

Here's a solution: Move!

I truly pity people who don't/can't live where they want to live. How miserable...

I truly pity people who think this is a nice place. I've made my peace with how terrible it is here. It's usually amusing. And you all are always entertaining with your miserable striving schemes. And we have money, that does help. But the amount of joy some of you get from the suffering of others... Your righteous zealotry... I assume this is why you really went into politics? So you'd have an excuse to be insufferable?

It's funny.

cry me a river. "suffering of others"? Please. This was a 2 income family which owned at least one investment property. Cops don't generally get rich but it's a decent paying job with good benefits (how many DCUM posters have pensions?). I don't get the pathology in defending people who were caught red handed committing extensive fraud of government services. Above PP comparison to doctors bilking DC Medicare payments is an excellent example.

I'm not defending them. I'm mocking your schadenfreude. You know how you enjoy repeated ad nauseam that there are Maryland people cheating DC? I have come to enjoy pointing out that DC is full of miserable, entitled blowhards. Like you, who are pathetically obsessed with their own status, what someone else might have, and how life isn't fair. It is like the city on the hill, is the city on the hill of a giant pile of whine. Waahhh. We're not a state. Waaah, PG residents. Waaaahhhh.

You're funny. I hear you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The notion of the 'ancestral' home which entitles one to adopt whatever residence is most convenient is strong and pervasive. It's a truly foreign concept to newer residents to DC but it's real.

That doesn't make it remotely defensible.

What about their rights as citizens of Maryland or Virginia? If I reside in those places, pay taxes there, and expect certain services as a citizen of that state. How does that entitle me to services of a state in which I do not reside nor pay taxes? This isn't like reciprocity for library cards across jurisdiction. This is like expecting DPW to haul your bulk trash from your Maryland home to Ft Totten, or DFD to put out the fire in your MD home. You move out of one state you do not retain any claims to its taxpayer exclusive services, not in the near term and not in perpetuity.

I'm the PPP. Not defending it. But somehow you need to get into the heads and hearts of these people if this is going to stop. Because it's pretty easy to use your parents (kids' grandparents') address as an official school address and get away with it.

How is it easy? You have to have one bill at the ancestral in your name or have a car registered there in your name (which I guess is the easiest part; you could pay your mom's water bill or car registration) plus have a driver's license with that address. The driver's license seems like the hardest part . . . don't you want a VA or MD license so you can use public pools/facilities near where you live without paying a fee? Or when you go to the bank or somewhere, don't they usually ask if the address on your license is current? I've had police give me some grief during traffic stops about having an old license (with my old address) -- telling me I need to get a new license, etc. It just seems to me like maintaining the paperwork required to prove DC residency is a PITA . . . hard to believe that people do this and think it is normal.

It's only easy until you're investigated by OSSE, and possibly your DCPS school registrar (who can demand a home visit). Under investigation, you have a matter of days to produce a stack of residency docs (originals, not copies), including a drivers license, several years of tax returns, car registration, utilities bills and other documents you care to submit (e.g. voter registration). Sounds like they could have covered their bases if they'd paid DC tax all along, and bothered to create and maintain all the residency docs. Not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why DC doesn't require tax returns as a part of the registration process. I wanted to enroll my child at Sitar Arts Center and they were adamant that I needed to present the prior years' tax returns as proof of residency. I've been a DC resident for 15 years, so it was no problem at all. Why shouldn't the schools adopt this approach? It would stop a lot of fraud. And before anyone chimes in about undocumented families, they also do taxes. I know many families whom have been issued a tax payor ID number to be able to legitimately pay taxes (in lieu of a social security number). They can also present TANF documentation if tax docs are too troubling. Bottomline- DC needs to make fraud more difficult. Not sure why this hasn't happened. It's not rocket science. Also, for "unconventional families" (kids in-between both parents, raised by grandparents, etc...). This can be proactively provided during registration. Grandma can say, "I'm raising little Johnny- here's my guardianship paperwork, etc..." If it's all off-book, that's also a part of the problem. Requiring folks to paper up would solve residency issues, but also protect vulnerable kids. What if "grandma" is not legit and little Johnny is unsafe in her care? The registration process would peep that out and get Little Johnny the safety he needs/deserves. DC can do so much better than the current failing system.

So let's see, you're proposing completely re-writing the child welfare and custody laws just to stop a handful of fraudulent enrollments in DCPS? Ok.

You're crazy and likely stealing from poor DC children. Shame on you! Only liars and cheaters take issue with strategies to prevent fraud and keep our resources where it's needed the most- for disadvantaged children living right in DC's borders. We have black and brown children being stolen from. Not okay. I want any extra seats in desirable schools to go to DC black and brown kids. Not an entitled Marylander or Virginian. So get back into your gas-guzzler Escalade and drive back to your Accokeek McMansion. You're not wanted here stealing from our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does not make sense is why anyone would go to such lengths to send their kids to DC public schools when they have the option of either Maryland or Virginia schools.

Tripling the amount is excessive though. It should be the amount of "tuition" plus a fine per kid.

The parents are police officers and the kids attended Eaton, Deal, and Wilson which were all convenient to their work places.

Aren't those schools just middling to average when you compare them to Arlington, fcps & montgomery county schools?

I get what they did was illegal, but if it was truly about cops/commute, wouldn't it make sense for DC to have a program for law enforcement/fire department to be able to place theirkids in schools close to their precincts, perhaps for a small "tuition" fee? DC really needs good cops and fire/rescue workers. Their kids are likely the tyoe of students who would be assets to this failing school system, as would having law enforcement officers who were personally invested in the local schools being safe and effective due to their own kids attending the schools.

I still thik tripling the fine is ridiculous given the victimless nature of the crime.

This. Their lives at pretty much ruined by that fantastical sum they'll be paying off forever. Their kids' college money, their retirement, gone. I am not supporting fraud, but I know how impossible it can be for working families to juggle shifts, kids, and life. I don't really blame anyone for doing what they can--we all do.

Of course. I also think dc is a ridiculous place that makes ridiculous distinctions between itself and Maryland... And should jsut be a part of Maryland already.

And no, for the trillionth time: not a pg resident. We live in the district. Send our kids to district schools. Zoned for deal and Wilson. Never needed prek3 here. Maybe that's my problem? I have no skin in this game. I don't feel cheated, except that I have to live in such a sad, vindictive, malarial swamp ass of a city.

Here's a solution: Move!

I truly pity people who don't/can't live where they want to live. How miserable...

I truly pity people who think this is a nice place. I've made my peace with how terrible it is here. It's usually amusing. And you all are always entertaining with your miserable striving schemes. And we have money, that does help. But the amount of joy some of you get from the suffering of others... Your righteous zealotry... I assume this is why you really went into politics? So you'd have an excuse to be insufferable?

It's funny.

cry me a river. "suffering of others"? Please. This was a 2 income family which owned at least one investment property. Cops don't generally get rich but it's a decent paying job with good benefits (how many DCUM posters have pensions?). I don't get the pathology in defending people who were caught red handed committing extensive fraud of government services. Above PP comparison to doctors bilking DC Medicare payments is an excellent example.

If they were there for over a decade with three kids in three different schools, there were A LOT of DC school officials and teachers who looked the otuer way or perhaps even helped them maintain this facade.

DCPS holds a large amount of the blame and responsibility for allowing or condoning their attendance at these schools.

For this reason alone, the fee is too steep.

[Anonymous]

These guys decided to litigate the case all the way through; as someone earlier stated, they could have settled, very likely without the triple damages. Instead, they rolled the dice (with doubtless very poor legal advice) and lost.

The huge damages are a deterrent to future conduct by others, including teachers and DCPS generally.