WHAT HEELS: Couple Steals Kids’ Lunch Money
Joanna Fan (AKA Xiao Ping), executive director of the Red Apple Child Development Center preschool chain, and her husband, Ziming Shen, are accused of stealing at least $2.5 million in federal funds over the last five years meant for nutritious meals for preschoolers. Prosecutors allege that the couple used the money to make mortgage payments on several Manhattan condominiums and to bankroll Preschool of America Inc., a chain of for-profit preschools in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens that they own, The New York Times reports:
The couple surrendered to agents of the United States Agriculture Department on Friday morning and were arraigned before Magistrate Judge James Orenstein of United States District Court in Brooklyn. They pleaded not guilty and posted bail of $750,000 each. …
Red Apple Child Development Center runs six preschools in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island. Between 2002 and 2010, the preschools received $13.5 million from the Agriculture Department through a program intended to help institutions provide healthy meals and snacks to children and adults. …
Red Apple had revenue of roughly $11 million in 2008. Previous annual filings showed that about half of that was from federal payments.
The judge restricted their movement to parts of New York and ordered them to surrender their passports.
“They’re going to defend this vigorously, and obviously all the facts have not come out,” Barry W. Agulnick, Mr. Shen’s lawyer, said after the arraignment.
If convicted of theft from programs receiving federal funds, the Fan and Shen can each be sentenced to as much as 10 years in prison and will have to pay a fine.
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