Four child care providers are under arrest after the city says an investigation uncovered fraud violations.
The Department of Investigation says nine facilities serving about 400 children were involved, but none of them was part of the universal pre-K program.
Separate investigations found that the day care operators lied about their credentials and filed false documents about training their employees didn’t receive.
One man allegedly set up a fake child care center and used it to collect money from the Administration for Children’s Services.
“The conduct exposed in these investigations ignored children’s well-being and was meant to evade the city’s health and safety regulations and cover up safety concerns and theft,” said Mark Peters, commissioner of the Department of Investigation. “In one of these cases, that conduct meant tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars intended for children lined the pockets of one of the defendants.”
All but one of the child care centers has been shut down.
The Department of Investigation says it closed four child care centers specifically related to the defendants:
• Next to Home, 1123 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., closed due to a city Department of Building (DOB) vacate order issued in response to multiple DOB and city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene violations.
• Next to Home, 1159 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., closed because the program had been operating under an expired DOB Certificate of Occupancy.
• One of a Kind Child Care, 6318 Amboy Rd., Staten Island, N.Y., closed by stipulation after the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene petitioned to revoke the permit.
• Gnomiki Day Care, Inc., 2221 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., closed due to the site’s violation history.
According to the DOI, the defendants were also associated with five other child care facilities. The DOI provided their statuses as well:
• Next to Home, 353 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., closed after the owner stopped operations.
• Next to Home, 5566 Kings Hwy., Brooklyn, N.Y., was never leased and never provided services to children.
• ABC Little Star, 2345 85th St., Brooklyn, N.Y., was part of an administrative action taken by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The site is still operating and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene inspected this week, finding no violations.
• Gnomiki Day Care, Inc., Group Family Day Care, 2623 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., a State-licensed facility, was inspected Thursday and a recommendation was made to close it.
• One of a Kind Child Care, a group family daycare operating at 6306 Amboy Rd., Staten Island, N.Y., a State-licensed facility, is operating and a recommendation was made to the state to close it or exclude the owner, Gina Schiavo, from the operations of the facility.
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