PHOENIX, AZ — Federal agents arrested a 62-year-old Phoenix man on Thursday, saying he helped steer millions of dollars in public school money into a long-running fraud and kickback operation centered on an Ohio charter school.
Prosecutors say Jonathan Larry Ballew worked with former school superintendent Leondo Ramone Davenport to pull more than $8 million from Dohn Community High School through false invoices and shell companies. The money allegedly covered luxury cars, upscale rentals and cash payments that benefited the two men personally.
Ballew and Davenport were taken into federal custody on Sept. 3. Both now face an eight-count indictment that accuses them of wire fraud and conducting financial transactions tied to unlawful activity.
How prosecutors say the invoice scheme worked across Arizona and Ohio
According to federal investigators, Ballew built at least four shell companies that appeared to offer services such as education support, technology, staffing and remodeling. Those businesses were used to submit bills to the Cincinnati-based school even though the work was not actually done in Ohio…