More:
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According to former We Mentor employee Edward Hall, "A lot of them he hired in bars."
Hall, who said he was in state prison for armed robbery and aggravated sexual assault from 1990 until 2001, worked for Davis in 2002 and 2003. While he did mostly office work, he occasionally mentored children as a "fill-in," Hall said.
Davis denied hiring Hall or allowing him to have contact with children. Davis also denied recruiting in bars. "I hired people I knew, I used advertisements," he said.
"I definitely made mistakes," Davis said. "I wish I had been a little more cautious on who I would have around me."
Ping
As most liberals will tell you, "Government is Great!"
And remember, it's all for the childrenTM!
Never heard of the CROOK!
There is another scandal in NYC being covered up by the news involving a $900K grant to a Boys' Club which was diverted to Air America.
"Nobody expects things to be perfect, but this is just obscene," said Robert Davison, chairman of a task force appointed by acting Gov. Richard Codey to improve access to care for the mentally ill. "I am not satisfied we are credentialing these providers appropriately."
Said Gail Krebs, an official with the Division of Children's Behavioral Health, which employed Davis: "He lied to us and took money under false pretenses."
Today Davis, 36, is under investigation for possible Medicaid fraud and for concealing his drug conviction, according to an official at the Division of Criminal Justice. The Department of Human Services asked the division to investigate Davis after The Star-Ledger inquired about We Mentor.
Davis said he was unaware of the investigation. He admitted making some mistakes but defended his work. "I did deliver a valuable service. They definitely got the services they paid for," he said. "It was never about money. It was about serving the kids in my community."
The system that gave birth to We Mentor was born in 2001, when Gov. Christie Whitman created a separate children's mental health program and privatized it. Today more than 800 contractors, including 242 mentoring firms, serve children who have emotional and behavioral problems. New Jersey expects to pay them nearly $343 million this year in state and federal funds.
The new system was supposed to improve services by treating children close to their homes and by being responsive to families. Unexpectedly, it also made it easy for mental health providers to fly under the radar.
Davis went into business in 2001 without so much as a résumé or business card. From the start his actions raised several red flags, but supervisors overlooked or never noticed them. To this day, the Department of Human Services has no idea whom Davis hired as mentors for children.
This would be hilarious if it weren't so sad.