State National

Republican lawmakers demand action as concerns mount about possible fraud in Ohio amid Minnesota allegations

By T.A. DeFeo | December 31, 2025

Concerns about fraud are mounting following allegations of a potentially multi-billion-dollar fraud scandal in Minnesota, with some Ohio lawmakers calling on a state agency to start unannounced inspections.

On Tuesday, a group of state lawmakers, led by state Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., sent a letter to Kara Wente, the director of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, calling for unannounced inspections of daycares and specifically targeting those in the Columbus area.

“There have been widespread public reports alleging that certain childcare facilities participating in publicly funded childcare programs are fraudulently billing the State of Ohio for children who are not actually in attendance,” the Republican lawmakers wrote in the letter. “These allegations raise serious concerns regarding program integrity, the responsible use of taxpayer dollars, and the overall credibility of Ohio’s publicly funded childcare system.”

In a post on X, state Rep. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, called for the prosecution and deportation of anyone who may be complicit in potential fraud.

“Unannounced inspections of these ‘daycare’ facilities in Columbus are the start,” Swearingen said in his post. “We also need immediate audits.

“If the fraud is confirmed, then shut downs, defunding, prosecutions, denaturalization and deportations,” Swearingen added. “My colleagues and I in the Ohio House are calling for the unannounced inspections to begin immediately.”

Thomas Hern, a communications consultant and former Turning Point USA national field director, posted to X about a visit he made to what he said was a Somali-run childcare center in Columbus.

“After a couple minutes of asking questions and a few knocks on the door, I was threatened by a group of men,” Hern said in a post to X.

However, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose took a different tack, recording a video addressed to the Somali American Chamber of Commerce, thanking them.

“Just like successive generations of great American immigrant families have done, you all are contributing richly to the culture [and] to the business life of our state and our nation,” LaRose said in the video.

Meanwhile, amid the allegations, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has “frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota,” Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a post to X.

In Ohio, Mehek Cooke, an Ohio attorney and conservative commentator, told Fox News Digital that “Minnesota was just the tip of the spear” and claims the Ohio Somali community is involved in the fraudulent “rubber-stamping” of Medicaid waiver services.

The scheme purportedly involves Ohio’s Medicaid waiver programs for home health care and doctors who get kickbacks for enrolling people, even approving them for fake medical conditions. The allegations include claims that elderly residents and relatives are being “coached” to lie to doctors, home health companies, and family members.

Additionally, a Somali-American entrepreneur and community leader with a connection to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine faced an $1,885.96 personal income tax lien filed in 2024, while maintaining direct business ties to a nonprofit serving Somali immigrants and funded by the Ohio government, according to a review of public records by Ohio.News.

A spokesman for DeWine has not yet responded to a request for comment from Ohio.News.

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