Report: Private school defrauds Florida programs of $1.3M with fake students, more arrests made

LAKE CITY, Fla. (WCJB) - The sworn complaint against a private school owner in Columbia County reveals a web of alleged fraud, embezzlement, and connections to drug and human trafficking. On Thursday, Tomeka Nicole Henry, 50, of Lake City, was arrested for fraud and grand theft exceeding $1.3 million, and the next day, two of her sons were arrested.

Columbia County Sheriff’s deputies say while investigating Henry’s home, narcotics and firearms were found among her sons’ belongings. Detectives seized approximately 196.7 grams of marijuana, approximately 17.1 grams of methamphetamine, approximately 8.9 grams of cocaine, 36 fentanyl pills, 2 digital scales, and a 9mm handgun. Samuel L. Phillips, 18, and Kurtis L. Phillips, 31, are charged with drug and weapon offenses.

Touch By an Angel Learning Academy, a daycare and private school located on North U.S. Highway 441 in the Five Points area of Columbia County, received funding from two state-funded programs, the Early Learning Coalition and the Step Up for Students Program.

TV20 spoke with Columbia County Commissioner Ron Williams who said he has been by the school multiple times in the past several weeks as part of his campaign. The school appeared empty when he visited.

“Well I don’t know to the degree that [the fraud] happens,” said Williams. “I don’t know whether this is just one incident or there are more incidents within the state of Florida, but there has got to be an oversight for private schools to make sure this does not happen.”

The academy was first registered as a not-for-profit entity in 2019. Henry was listed as the organization’s director and principal. She controlled all of the financial operations and is accused of falsely reporting the number of students attending the school to receive more money. The funding was allegedly used to support other illegal enterprises.

“State funding for these types of programs is money intended to lift up our community and when individuals misuse those funds we will work diligently to locate and charge those responsible for the fraudulent activity and any other criminal activity that may be associated with it,” Sheriff Mark Hunter stated. “When this type of white collar crime is committed in our community it affects a large amount of citizens.”

Early Learning Coalition

On Feb. 8, 2020, the academy began receiving money from the Early Learning Coalition to operate as a daycare for low-income families. The School Readiness Service provided the funding for 78 children allegedly enrolled at the academy.

The coalition uses parent’s pay stubs to determine if they are eligible for financial assistance. They were only able to verify 20 of the children’s eligibility. As a result, they launched an investigation and discovered many of the stubs were fraudulent.

Investigators also reviewed attendance records and found many were incorrect. Some included children who had moved out of the county. Others showed all students attended during the school’s Spring Break. According to the academy’s records, not a single student was absent between July 2020 and October 2021.

As a result of the investigation, the coalition decided to stop funding Touch By an Angel Learning Academy. Henry appealed the decision and was rejected, however, her other source of revenue was still providing money.

Step Up for Florida

Florida’s “School Choice” initiative providing money for parents to send their children to private schools is administered by Step Up for Florida. To have tuition paid for, parents have to apply online, enroll in a private school, and then periodically authorize funding to the school. The state forbids schools from filling out or submitting tuition requests on behalf of parents.

During the 2023-24 school year, Touch By an Angel Learning Academy claimed to have 75 students attending the private school. However, the online applications for the students had many discrepancies.

Detectives surveilled the school for weeks tracking the number of students. Most days, they counted around five students attending. On the day a Step Up official came to review the school, 12 students were spotted on campus.

Investigators questioned the Step Up official who initially incorrectly stated the school had more than 20 students in attendance before clarifying the total was closer to ten. She said the facility did not appear capable of supporting 75 students and she did not believe the school was “legitimate.”

The Step Up official had been called to the school because Henry was attempting to get the organization to give the school funding for 25 more students. The funding had been denied because the school reported all of those students moved from Brooksville to Lake City on the same day, raising suspicions of fraud.

Online applications for the supposed students of the school contained many errors. Numerous applications were submitted from the same IP address. Henry’s phone number and email address were listed as many parent’s contacts. Parental payment authorizations were submitted within seconds of each other and submitted paystubs were apparently forged.

The evidence suggested to detectives that Henry was submitting documentation to Step Up for non-existent students.

Spending the money

Tomeka Henry is accused of embezzling more than $800,000 from the not-for-profit private school for her own personal use and gain. According to the sworn complaint, Henry never paid her supposed employees in a traditional manner, instead, using Cash App and Zelle. She also never paid payroll taxes for any of the people who allegedly worked for her.

Detectives say Henry had many Cash App accounts that she would transfer money from the school’s bank account into. The money would then move between accounts and to family members. Investigators say the rapid movement of money between accounts is a sign of possible money laundering.

She used the school’s money to pay for medical bills, hotel rooms, expensive restaurants, SeaWorld tickets, hair, nails, and hundreds of fast food purchases. She also frequently used the money to buy rental cars for her sons Ledell, Kurtis, Samuel Phillips. One of the rental cars was seen leaving the scene of a homicide. In another instance, Kurtis Phillips was pulled over after attempting to evade a traffic stop and found with guns and narcotics.

Henry used $40,000 of money from the school to pay Samuel Phillips’ bond on the charge of aggravated battery with a firearm. She also paid the bond for Ledell Phillips.

Suspicious hotel stays

During the investigation into fraud at the school, investigators learned of suspicious hotel stays in Lake City with her son Marquez Henry who is currently serving a life sentence for murder. The Henrys were known to rent multiple rooms at the Holiday Inn in Lake City regularly between 2020 and 2023.

Hotel management told detectives that on many occasions Tomeka Henry rented multiple rooms that all exited to a private interior atrium. She always rented the rooms online and would enter the hotel through the side, avoiding security cameras.

They would bring young girls between the ages of 8 and 14 to the hotel. After they left, staff would find the mattresses in the room pulled off the bed and lying on the floor.

Staff members began to suspect human trafficking or prostitution was occurring. When they became suspicious of the stays, Tomeka Henry stopped renting rooms. She was also known to rent rooms at Howard Johnson’s Hotel in Lake City.

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