Retrial begins in Florida fraud faith-based voucher case....principal had once been tried for murder

[madfloridian]

Florida again.

This is such a terrible indictment of the voucher program in Florida. It is not the only case of gross misuse...but just centering on this one right now.

I notice the newest article does not mention the previous murder trial of the principal of the Faith Christian Academy, so I will quote from an article from 2004. How in the world could something like this slip in unnoticed?

Principal Had Been Tried for Murder

BARTOW -- The private-school principal accused of stealing state voucher money via the now defunct Faith Christian Academy had once been tried for the murder of her husband in Arkansas.
Betty Mae Jives Mitchell, then Betty Clark, and Louise Henry were accused in 1987 of poisoning Mitchell's former husband, Thomas Joseph Clark, with arsenic in Crittenden County, Ark. The trial ended in a hung jury, and the state dropped its case against the pair.

..."The group is accused of bilking the state voucher system, the federal school lunch program and a scholarship funding organization out of about $200,000.

The other six charged are Jeannette Jives Nealy, Levy Gail Everett-Davis, Demario Quowon Jives, Willie James Jives, Josie Mae Jives and Margaret Burns.

There has been no Louise Henry charged in the Faith Christian scandal. There is a Luease Henry listed as an "officer/director detail" on the corporate filing for Restoration N.O.W. Deliverance and Praise Ministries Inc., a nonprofit organization connected to at least two of the people who have been arrested. But there is no clear indication that Louise Henry and Luease Henry are the same person.

It is so hard to believe all of that happened without the state noticing anything at all.

Now two are up for retrial.

Sisters are accused of taking money from federal and state education programs.

BARTOW - A retrial is scheduled to begin Monday for two women who are accused of pocketing money from state and federal education programs.

Betty Mae Jives Mitchell, 40, and her sister Jeannette Jives Nealy, 39, were previously tried in the case in a seven-week trial in June 2006 that ended in a mistrial. The sisters' mother, Josie Jives, was tried with them and her trial also ended in a mistrial. She will be tried again at a later date.

A fourth woman, Levy Gail Everett-Davis, was tried in that case and found not guilty.

The four were accused of stealing from the state's school voucher program and the federal school lunch and breakfast program through a network of corporations, including Faith Christian Academy in Bartow and Cathedral of Faith Christian Academy in Lakeland.

I was just writing about how strictly teachers are held to accountability, but there are other schools like this in private homes still getting away with stuff like this.

Something is wrong with this picture.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1386