An out-of-state couple is headed behind bars after stealing $110,000 from Arizona’s lightly-regulated Empowerment Scholarship program

PHOENIX — An out-of-state couple who stole more than $100,000 from Arizona’s loosely regulated education voucher program is going behind bars.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark H. Brain sentenced Johnny Bowers to 2.5 years in prison, while his wife, Ashley Hopkins, will spend 14 days in Maricopa County Jail later this year. 

The two also must repay the money they stole.

Records show the two hatched a scheme to begin stealing from Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account in December 2022. 

That’s a few months after then-Gov. Doug Ducey and the Republican-controlled Legislature expanded the program to give thousands of dollars a year to families to educate their kids at home or in private school.

Despite living in Colorado, the couple was able to register several of their own eight children in the program. They then created 43 additional ESA accounts with fake kids, records show.

By May 3, 2024, they had used forged birth certificates, fake utility bills, and other documents to receive $110,258, records show.

They were caught after State Schools Chief Tom Horne hired an auditor and investigator for ESA to root out fraud and abuse, and the agency’s internal processes discovered their actions, spokesman Doug Nick said on Friday. 

“They were referred to law enforcement and convicted,” Nick said.

The couple pled guilty in August under a plea deal.

Bowers pleaded guilty to fraudulent schemes and artifices, a Class 2 felony, and forgery, a Class 4 felony. Hopkins, who also goes by Ashley Hewitt, pleaded guilty to fraudulent schemes and artifices, a Class 2 felony.

The fraud, however, went on for roughly 17 months, which the judge noted. 

“It was a lot of money when it was all said and done. Frankly, it was a scheme that played out over the course of several years,” the judge said during the sentencing hearing.

Attorneys for the couple asked the judge for leniency, noting they have eight kids between the ages of 11 and 22. 

It was also disclosed that Bowers was a disabled veteran, and he told the judge he was trying to provide for his large family.

“I absolutely regret what I have done,” Bowers told the judge.

The judge rejected a defense attorney’s request for Bowers to spend 1 year in prison. 

After the judge sentenced Bowers to 2.5 years in state prison, the defendant was handcuffed and taken into custody.

Hopkins then appeared before the judge, and she too apologized.

“I’m incredibly remorseful for our actions,” she said.

The judge was curious about the plea deals, which called for prison time for Bowers but probation for Hopkins.

“I don’t understand the disparate treatment of the two defendants regarding jail time,” Brain said. “She should spend 14 days in the county jail.”

The ruling surprised Hopkins.

“I can’t go to jail today,” she said.

She told the judge she had several kids between the ages of 11 and 16 at her home, and no one to care for them. She also had booked a flight out of Phoenix to Utah, where the family now lives.

The judge then ordered her to spend Dec. 15-29 in Maricopa County Jail. She declined to comment when leaving the courtroom.

This case is among several that Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has launched into financial fraud in the ESA program.

RELATED: I-TEAM: ESA parents bought diamond rings, lingerie, and Kenmore appliances with education tax dollars

Earlier this month, her office charged a Florida man with also creating fake children to receive ESA money.

And this month, former ESA employee Delores Sweet began serving more than a year in prison for her involvement in a $600,000 scheme involving real and made-up ESA children.

Meanwhile, a 12News I-Team investigation this summer found ESA parents were using their kids’ money to buy diamond rings, Kenmore appliances, I-Phones and even lingerie.

The spending spree began last year after Horne directed his staff to automatically approve all ESA purchases of $2,000 or less because of a backlog in reimbursement requests.

That policy remains in effect with plans to audit purchases later.

While giving the green light to all ESA purchases less than $2,000, Horne has also repeatedly said his office has not been given enough staff to adequately police a program that has rapidly grown.

State records show there were 12,127 ESA kids before universal expansion under Ducey. 

There are 95,796 ESA kids as of this week. The program is expected to cost $1 billion this academic year.

RELATED: Over 1 million ESA reimbursement requests have been automatically approved since December