Taxpayer dollars earmarked for education spent on Miami vacation property
Eight million out. Four million back. Thirty thousand a month for a Miami view.
Summary
- Just the News, citing The Center Square, reports a federal indictment alleging taxpayer dollars meant for Dohn Community High School, a Cincinnati nonprofit charter for students in addiction recovery, were spent on $30,000-a-month rent for a luxury vacation property near Miami.
- Leondo Ramone Davenport, 50, of Cincinnati, and Jonathan Larry Ballew, 62, of Phoenix, are charged in an $8 million fraud and kickback scheme. Prosecutors say that from 2021 to 2024 Ballew submitted false invoices, Davenport authorized more than $8 million in payments, and Ballew kicked more than $4 million back to Davenport.
- Davenport was superintendent of the school from 2015 to 2019. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said the scheme stole from taxpayers and students. Ohio Auditor Keith Faber called it an egregious kickback using taxpayer resources.
- The case is charged, not tried. Attorney Adam Brown, who has previously represented Davenport, did not immediately comment.
Commentary
A Cincinnati night janitor still wipes linoleum in a recovery school that should have bought books, not a Miami month. He did not clock a double so $30,000 rent could outrun a classroom.
Eight. Million. Four. Million. Thirty thousand a month. The honest dad already paid the levy. The invoice paid the view.
Look every working mother who still packs a lunch in that district in the eye and answer this: if the recovery till can buy a vacation, who still owns the next textbook?
Comments
Dohn. Davenport 50. Ballew 62. $8M out. $4M back. Hold that math.
I stood a hall so a kid in recovery would get a desk. A Miami month is not a neighborhood.
2021 to 2024 invoices. Superintendent 2015-2019. Charged, not tried. Publish the three.
Allied desks still treat a school till as a trust. A kickback is a bill.
McDonald. Faber. $30,000 a month. File the nouns next to the indictment.
I still mop a hallway at 2 a.m. I want the next dollar on a desk, not a balcony.
A recovery kid is not paperwork. It is the reason the levy passed.
A free vacation invoice is a second tax. The first $8 million should have been enough.
JTN printed $8M, $4M, and $30,000. Argue those nouns.
Keep the indictment. Audit the charters. A visitor who bills a view is not a neighbor.
