Back in December, YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video in which he visted ten Minnesota daycare centers — including the now infamous Quality Learing Center — and found no children anywhere in sight.
Local newshounds, scooped again, hit the trail:
The Minnesota Star Tribune also visited all 10 facilities, and found children inside four of them when invited inside. Six other facilities were either closed or employees did not open their doors.
Local Democrats were outraged, but not at the alleged fraud. Fox 9 reported:
DFL Party Chair Richard Carlbom criticized the GOP’s role, saying, “Lisa Demuth has admitted that she and Minnesota Republicans chose to partner with a YouTube conspiracy theorist. This is a new low. If Lisa Demuth was serious about rooting out fraud, she would be working with law enforcement and letting facts lead.”
Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy also voiced concerns, describing the GOP’s actions as “playing sick games” and warning of potential harm to Minnesota’s daycare system.
“Republicans are playing sick games and winning devastating prizes. Sending a YouTuber to drive around demanding that he gets to see children isn’t an investigation; it’s creepy,” said Sen. Murphy. “And now, tens of thousands of Minnesota families will pay the price as Donald’s Trump’s agents strip away crucial funding. Our daycare system is already stressed; this reckless decision could force a collapse that affects all of us.”
On the basis of stories like the Star Tribune’s, Rep. Dave Pinto (DFL) stated just three weeks ago: “I’ll remind all of us that our local media looked at the Nick Shirley video and fully debunked it.”
Except they didn’t.
In February, Fahima Egeh Mahamud, who operated a food distribution site under the name Future Leaders Early Learning Center which featured in Shirley’s video (at the 21:26 mark), was charged with fraud as part of the “Feeding Our Future” cases.
This week, Fox 9 reported:
Fahima Egeh Mahamud was charged Wednesday with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Prosecutors say Mahamud was the CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning, a day care in Minneapolis near George Floyd Square. Authorities say Mahamud enrolled the day care into the federal child nutrition program through Feeding our Future and falsely claimed to serve thousands of meals at her childcare center.
At the same time, prosecutors claim Mahamud submitted false paperwork to Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program, claiming that she had properly collected co-payment needed to receive reimbursements from the government. In reality, prosecutors say she hadn’t done that.
In total, prosecutors say the day care pocketed more than $4.6 million from CCAP plus an additional $850,000 from the federal child nutrition program.
The other side: Mahamud was charged earlier this year for her role in the Feeding our Future scheme. She was charged Wednesday for the day care aspect of the fraud.
Richard Carlborn, Sen. Murphy, and Rep. Pinto have, as yet, made no comment.
