Cashing in On Kids a Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report Private Fortune, Public Cash Regulators Ignored Red Flags While Woman Ran Lucrative Day Care Business

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By RAQUEL RUTLEDGE

A Jaguar convertible sits in the driveway of Latasha Jackson's million-dollar mansion in Menomonee Falls. Built on a hill with a sprawling back deck overlooking a pond, the 7,600-square-foot home features an indoor swimming pool and indoor basketball court.

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Cashing in On Kids a Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report Private Fortune, Public Cash Regulators Ignored Red Flags While Woman Ran Lucrative Day Care Business

Jackson is not an Olympic swimmer, a professional basketball player or a celebrity of any sort. She is a day care provider in the city of Milwaukee.

She built her fortune with taxpayer funding from the Wisconsin Shares program.

And although documents show regulators had many reasons to believe the 32-year-old mother of three was billing the state for kids not in her care, providing false information and otherwise defrauding the system for more than a decade, they continued to pay her.

That ended Thursday, but only after the state learned the Journal Sentinel was preparing to publish a story on the case. And only when Jackson turned herself in -- a day after the newspaper confronted her.

Despite recent records that indicate Jackson was running what police and regulators refer to as a "child-care ring" -- adding mothers with many kids to her payroll for the main purpose of enrolling their children in her center -- the state continued to deposit thousands of dollars in her account each month. This month alone Jackson collected more than $90,000 fro...

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