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Tag: children with autism

  • Former school bus aide accused of abusing nonverbal, children with autism pleads guilty Monday morning

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    Update | Monday, January 5 at 8:55 a.m. | Kiarra Jones pleaded guilty to 12 of the 13 charges she initially faced. As part of a plea agreement the judge accepted, the 13th charge was dropped. Her sentencing is set for March 18 at 2 p.m.

    Jury selection is set to start Monday in the trial of Kiarra Jones, a former school bus aide who’s accused of physically abusing three nonverbal, children with severe autism.

    The attorney for these three children’s families told Denver7 that Jones could accept a plea deal Monday morning in the 13 charges she faces.

    If that’s the case, Jones would plead guilty to 10 felonies and two misdemeanors in exchange for a more serious felony charge being dropped. It is still possible, though, that Jones moves forward with the trial as scheduled.

    This case came to light after school bus footage from March of 2024 was released, appearing to show Jones repeatedly hitting 10-year-old Dax, a nonverbal boy with autism. At times, he appears to try to protect himself with his hands.

    Shortly after, Dax’s parents both spoke at a press conference along with the other affected families about watching that video.

    “The most sacred thing I can do is trust someone with is my children especially when my son isn’t capable of telling me he’s being abused,” Dax’s dad said.

    “How could someone that I trusted, someone that I was so friendly with do this to my little boy,” Jess Vestal, Dax’s mom, said.

    The legal team for the three families told Denver7 in-part:

    “For the past two years, Jones has walked freely despite video evidence of her inflicting unconscionable abuse on the most vulnerable members of our community. The families look forward to taking a step toward closure.”

    Kiarra Jones is represented by the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, which does not comment on active cases.

    The hearing is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday. Denver7 will be in the Arapahoe County courtroom and bring you the latest updates.

    Prior coverage:

    Denver7

    Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Sophia Villalba

    Denver7’s Sophia Villalba covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in covering education. If you’d like to get in touch with Sophia, fill out the form below to send her an email.

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  • Federal prosecutors charge first person in Minnesota autism fraud investigation

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    Smart Therapy Center is an autism center housed in side this building on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer.

    A 28-year-old woman was charged with wire fraud Wednesday for what federal prosecutors allege is her role in a $14 million scheme to defraud Minnesota’s Medicaid autism treatment program — the first person charged as part of what is believed to be a wide-ranging investigation.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota charged Asha Farhan Hassan for what they say is her role in the theft from the state’s Early Intensive Developmental Behavioral Intervention services program, which is supposed to assist people under 21 with autism spectrum disorder. The Reformer first reported the autism Medicaid fraud investigation last year.

    Prosecutors also said Hassan used her business to defraud the Federal Child Nutrition Program that was at the center of the massive pandemic-era food aid scandal known as Feeding Our Future, according to court documents.

    The Reformer left a message with Hassan’s attorney, Ryan Pacyga, who didn’t immediately respond.

    In 2019, Hassan began Smart Therapy with several partners to purportedly provide one-on-one therapy to children with autism. To be reimbursed by the state, Smart Therapy needed to enroll children with autism, and Hassan and her partners approached parents in the Somali community to recruit and enroll children, according to court documents. Some of the children were not diagnosed with autism.

    Hassan and Smart Therapy paid monthly kickbacks ranging from $300 to $1,500 each month to the parents who enrolled their children with Smart Therapy, according to court documents.

    Smart Therapy quickly became one of the state’s biggest autism treatment providers.

    Smart Therapy also employed 18- or 19-year-old relatives with no experience related to the treatment of autism and had no formal education beyond high school, according to court documents.

    Smart Therapy obtained over $14 million from 2019 to 2024 from Medicaid through the Minnesota Department of Human Services and U Care, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

    The Reformer reported in 2024 that a former supervisor at Smart Therapy made repeated attempts to report what she said were negligence and fraud to state officials.

    Growth of spending on the Minnesota autism program has exploded in recent years. The number of providers — who are supposed to diagnose and treat people with autism spectrum disorder — has increased 700% in five years, climbing from 41 providers in 2018 to 328 in 2023.

    While allegedly defrauding the autism program, Hassan also used Smart Therapy to submit fraudulent claims to Feeding Our Future, according to court documents. Between 2020 and 2021, Hassan claimed to serve nearly 200,000 meals to children in Smart Therapy, for which she received about $465,000, the documents said.

    Hassan shared the fraudulent dollars with her partners, sent hundreds of thousands abroad and used some of the money to purchase real estate in Kenya, according to court documents.

    Wednesday’s charge is another instance of the alleged defrauding of a Minnesota public program.

    “Today’s charges mark the first in the ongoing investigation into fraud in the EIDBI Autism Program,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson.  “To be clear, this is not an isolated scheme. From Feeding Our Future to Housing Stabilization Services and now Autism Services, these massive fraud schemes form a web that has stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer money.  Each case we bring exposes another strand of this network.”

    Hassan is at least the 76th person charged in the Feeding Our Future investigation.

    Last week, Thompson announced charges against eight in another Medicaid fraud scheme through the state’s Housing Stabilization Services program.

    The latest charges are likely to be more fodder for opponents of DFL Gov. Tim Walz — who announced last week he’s running for a third term — who say his administration was asleep on the watchtower as fraudsters looted state programs.

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