Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill
BATON ROUGE – Agents with Attorney General Liz Murrill’s Louisiana Bureau of Investigation have arrested a Blanchard woman who allegedly defrauded the state of more than $37,000.
Murrill’s office announced the arrest of Jazmine King, 35, on charges of felony theft and filing or maintaining false public records. She was booked at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
The LBI received a request for assistance from the Louisiana Office of the Inspector General regarding allegations of fraud after the OIG investigators had received information from the Louisiana State Treasurer’s Office regarding concerns King, Director of Caddo Parish nonprofit Divine Kingdom Ministries, may have misappropriated state funds.
The Louisiana Legislature had appropriated $75,000 to the ministry for “academic support and life skills training” to be administered by the Louisiana Department of the Treasury through a cooperative endeavor agreement. Through that agreement, an initial advance of $37,500 was deposited into the ministry’s account, which was solely operated by King.
Agents learned King’s first cost report was flagged by Treasury personnel for numerous concerns, including suspicious cash-back transactions, missing invoices and an Airbnb purchase. Treasury staff also reported King had issued herself a personal salary but failed to maintain payroll timesheets, a payroll ledger or any record of days or hours worked.
Further investigation showed King knowingly converted public funds intended for the academic support program for her personal benefit.
Among other things, evidence disclosed that King used public funds to make payments on her personal vehicle note, personal car insurance, consumer debts and jewelry purchases. King also made unauthorized ATM cash withdrawals, purchased an unauthorized vehicle, paid for her residential utilities and personal travel and issued payments to individuals for work that was never performed.
As a result, King defrauded the state program of approximately $37,500, Murrill’s office says.
“Car, cash, and jewelry!” Murrill said “Instead of enriching the lives of young people in north Louisiana, Ms. King appears to have used the hard-earned tax dollars of the men and women of Louisiana to enrich herself instead.
“Louisiana is fighting back against public benefits fraud, and getting real results. Great work by my agents, Louisiana Inspector General Angele Davis and her team, and the Louisiana Department of the Treasury.”
Louisiana Inspector General Angele Davis agreed.
“This money was appropriated so children in north Louisiana would get academic support,” Davis said. “Our investigators found it paid for a car note, jewelry and a weekend in Monroe. When Treasury saw something wrong in the cost reports, they referred it to us; we built the case and took it to the Attorney General.
“That is the system working the way taxpayers should expect it to work, and it is how we intend to handle every dollar that leaves this state through a nonprofit appropriation.”
