Mankato woman loses DHS license on child care center, faces state program fraud charges

A Mankato woman who faces a long list of charges for wrongfully receiving child care assistance from the state had her license to provide child care revoked at the end of 2014.

Shawna Lea Wolfe, 48, operated a family home licensed daycare on the upper level of a home on Northridge Drive in North Mankato, which she and her husband owned.

To receive child care assistance, a provider must be licensed by the Department of Human Services and registered with individual counties.

Another woman operated a separate daycare on the lower level of that home, the criminal complaint said. That provider was not a registered provider for child care assistance, so was not eligible to receive assistance program payments. DHS required the two providers to run separately. If they combined care, they would need to be licensed as a facility rather than family home care, with stricter training and licensure requirements.

Nicollet County believed the two were providing care together in 2009. In 2014, a county inspector visited the lower-level provider's facility. The provider said she had children on child care assistance in her care, but that Wolfe submitted for claims for reimbursement. Wolfe had submitted for reimbursement on 18 children in the lower-level provider's facility.

Through witness reports, it became clear that the two providers combined care in the morning and afternoon. Wolfe told inspectors she submitted all reimbursements for child care assistance and food assistance programs, which she thought was allowed. Letters sent to her in 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010 said the programs must operate separately.

DHS revoked her license in December 2014 due to the operation of the two family child care programs as one program despite several reminders that this was not allowed.

Of $93,365 received improperly, nearly $62,000 was through Nicollet County, where she was charged Sept. 15, a news release from the Nicollet County Sheriff's Office said. Another nearly $30,000 was through Blue Earth County and $1,700 was through Le Sueur County. She was charged with 22 counts of felony wrongfully obtaining assistance, one gross misdemeanor and two misdemeanor counts of wrongfully obtaining assistance. Her first appearance in Nicollet County District Court will be Oct. 17.