Former KC daycare owner sentenced to prison for multiple conspiracies

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A former Kansas City day care owner will serve two years and be imprisoned for multiple conspiracies to defraud the government.

United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, Teresa A. Moore, announced Friday, May 24, that Patricia L. Johnson-Rushing, 55, owner of a local day care center, was sentenced to prison for her role in a conspiracy to tax fraud.

Court records indicate Johnson-Rushing was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to 2 years and 3 months in prison without the possibility of parole. She was also ordered to pay a total of $772,861 in restitution and forfeit more than $95,000 to the government.

On September 7, 2023, Moore said Johnson-Rushing pleaded guilty to theft of public money, employee benefits fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. She admitted to fraudulently receiving $83,394 in public funds for her daycare, Granny's Pray & Play at 3714 E. 27th Street, in Kansas City, Missouri. She also admitted to illegally receiving food stamps.

Court documents note that Johnson-Rushing admitted she participated in a conspiracy to enjoin the collection of federal employment taxes after she failed to pay more than $154,000 in income taxes and FICA contributions collected from employee paychecks. This was part of a total tax loss of more than $653,000.

Moore noted that the total fraud to which Johnson-Rushing pleaded guilty amounted to more than $772,800.

Court records also said Johnson-Rushing admitted to submitting false statements to the Missouri Department of Human Services to intentionally report false information about children who attended his daycare between Jan. 1, 2016 and Nov. 28, 2019. He s It was an attempt. to receive funds from the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant program.

The program aimed to help low-income families access high-quality child care and after-school programs. Parents of adopted children can benefit from childcare allowance for children under 13 if both parents work. However, the provider agreement states that the daycare owner cannot be paid for services rendered to their children.

An audit found that six children adopted by Johnson-Rushing were approved to receive a subsidy for full-time care. To qualify, she submitted false documents to misrepresent ownership of the daycare and to claim employment elsewhere. The total funds provided to the daycare through this program are more than $83,000.

Court documents also noted that between 2016 and 2019, Johnson-Rushing signed applications for food stamps that would qualify for more state grants. In these requests, she claimed to have no job or bank account when in reality she frequently withdrew money from the daycare's bank account for cashier's checks for personal purchases.

Moore said those purchases included $15,000 for a Cadillac Escalade in October 2016. Johnson-Rushing illegally acquired more than $12,000 in food stamps, resulting in a loss of more than $36,000 to the Division support for Missouri families.

According to other court records, Granny's Pray & Play employed 15 people and withheld funds from federal income taxes and FICA contributions from their checks. Johnson-Rushing did not remit these funds to the Internal Revenue Service. This resulted in a loss of over $154,000 between Q1 2015 and Q4 2018.

Moore noted that Johnson-Rushing defrauded the IRS of more than $653,000. It also filed for bankruptcy in June 2023, which remains pending in bankruptcy court. She did not disclose the criminal case in her documents. She also filed three complaints in 2022, all of which were dismissed for failing to follow court rules.

Prosecutors said the failed bankruptcy cases once again prove Johnson-Rushing's abuse of the system.

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