A Minneapolis day care center that was raided last week by federal and state investigators had billed the state for hundreds of hours of care that were never provided — even billing for days when it was closed, according to an FBI search warrant request.
Federal authorities determined that the Salama Child Care Center billed Minnesota's state-funded child care assistance program for more children than were actually observed entering the building.
State regulators revoked the center's license last week for numerous safety violations.
The findings result from a 16-month physical surveillance of the center, located at 1411 Nicollet Av. S. Local law enforcement officers and civilian investigators monitored Salama's entrances and found wide discrepancies between the number of children entering the building and the number billed to the state.
On a single day last January, for instance, Salama billed the state for 132 children, even though investigators observed a total of only 24 children entering the building. On at least two occasions, Salama billed the child-care assistance program for services even though the facility was actually closed, according to the FBI search warrant filed with the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.
Though Salama was licensed to provide care for just 60 children at any time, the facility had nearly four times that many — 229 children — enrolled in the state-funded Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), which provides monthly financial assistance to more than 30,000 children of low-income families. Last year, state and federal payments to Minnesota providers under the CCAP program totaled $216 million.
"The investigation has revealed that a large discrepancy exists between the number of children actually attending and receiving care at Salama and the number of children for which Salama seeks and receives reimbursement …" wrote FBI special agent Kathryn Morrissey in an affidavit included with the search warrant application.
No formal charges have been filed against Salama, its owners or any of its employees. Ardo Y. Diriye is identified as the chief executive and license holder of Salama; Fozia Sheik Ali is listed as director in state licensing documents.