Higher ups in the Arizona Department of Education pressured staff to expedite purchase requests for the Empowerment Scholarship Account, a defense attorney alleged on the first day of trial for a former employee accused of stealing money from the program.

Adam Feldman, attorney for defendant Dorrian Jones, said Jones had grown a distaste for the program, but was given alleged directives from Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and ESA Director John Ward to push to “exponentially” increase enrollment and money to families to make the program “too big to fail.”

Feldman said the auditing system was “effectively non-existent” and employees were held to an “unwritten rule … the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” meaning any inquiries on payment requests would take first priority. 

Jones, a former employee of the Department of Education, is facing 16 felony counts for fraudulent schemes, conspiracy, forgery, money laundering and illegally conducting an enterpris

In February 2024, the state grand jury indicted Jones and fellow ESA employees Jennifer Lopez, Delores Lashay Sweet, and Sweet’s adult children, Jadakah Celeste Johnson and Raymond Lamont Johnson, on counts including conspiracy, fraudulent schemes, money laundering and  forgery. 

According to the indictment, the former employees allegedly created ESA accounts for real and fictitious children using forged birth certificates and special education evaluations. They then paid out quarterly awards and approved reimbursements, garnering $614,352 in the process.

Jones is the sole defendant on trial.

Feldman said the trial boils down to a “she said, he said.”

Feldman said Lopez stole $200,000 from students, parents, and members of the jury, given ESA’s place as a taxpayer funded program. He hit on Lopez’s conduct in creating fraudulent disability eligible ESA accounts for both real and nonexistent children. 

In contrast, Feldman painted Jones as a morally upright employee who had worked his way up the ladder in the department.  

Feldman claimed Lopez did not need Jones to commit her crimes and all Lopez would have had to do was put in an inquiry to see something approved. He also made a point to say Jones turned down a promotion from the department, undermining the notion that he was out for money. Feldman urged the jury to ask themselves whether they trusted Lopez, who he deemed an “opportunist who stole $200,000 from children, parents, y’all,” or Jones.

State prosecutor Carolina Lopez told the jury Jones had been “exploiting his position to satisfy his own greed at the expense of Arizona students.” 

She alleged he worked as the “money gatekeeper” who approved more than 30 improper expenses on direction from his co-defendant and witness for the state, Lopez, to collect more than $100,000. 

Attorneys for the state claim Jones had been paid cash by his co-defendant to prioritize fraudulent requests and claimed the “chaotic environment” at the department was conducive to having improper funding requests slip through the cracks. 

A prosecution report further revealed a pattern in the alleged scheme in which Lopez would assign fraudulent accounts to herself to approve. Then, Jones and Sweet would allegedly approve the vast majority of fraudulent purchases and reimbursement requests. 

Per the report, approvals associated with the accounts occurred within one minute to a few days, splitting with the 20-day median for other purchase approvals in the queue. 

The report notes questionable purchases, too, including Arizona State University tuition, a blender, a Ring doorbell, weightlifting equipment, an electric skateboard, computers, headphones, watches, a Michael Kors women’s watch, and books on reactive parenting, overthinking and women at work. There were also several “large” requests for tutoring reimbursement. 

In her first day of testimony, Lopez admitted to creating accounts and forging disability documents for her children and two “made-up” children, as well as approving applications for Sweet’s two adult children, who were ineligible for the program.

She further said she did submit requests for reimbursements for purchases she did not make.  

At the close of the first day, Lopez had yet to get into Jones’ alleged part in the scheme and will take the stand again Feb. 19.

Beyond Lopez, the state plans to call special agent Annalisa Madsen and Neil Steinhardt, president of ClassWallet, the ESA program’s financial vendor.

The state has been limited in witnesses and some areas of evidence given disclosure disputes with the defense. On request from Feldman, a judge precluded testimony from all ESA employees, with the exception of Lopez, given delayed disclosure by the state. 

Sweet took a plea deal, as did her adult children who were both sentenced to three years supervised probation and ordered to pay more than $196,000 in restitution on Feb 13. 

The trial against Jones is scheduled to run through Feb. 27.