Arizona attorney general indicts two nonresidents for defrauding school voucher program

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes indicted two out-of-state residents for allegedly defrauding the state’s school voucher program over $100,000.

According to the indictment, Johnny Lee Bowers and Ashley Meredith Hewitt, who also uses the name Ashley Hopkins, submitted applications to Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program for more than 50 children, both real and fake, using “false, forged, or fraudulent documentation.” Bowers and Hewitt submitted applications for 50 children, 43 of whom were made up, applying as parents under their own names, as well as the names of fictitious “ghost” parents.