A special investigation by the state auditor’s office has found the head of a taxpayer funded program to help Iowans get training and land a job embezzled more than $430,000 over a seven year period.

During a news conference at the tsatehouse, State Auditor Rob Sand said most of that money went to program director Jodi Spargur-Tate.

“Then there was about another $100,000 that was diverted to her family members for things like rent, utilities, cell phone service,” Sand said, “and, in addition to that, allegedly for day care expenses when, in fact, there was no day care being provided.”

The Iowa Workforce Development agency provided the federal funding to the program Spargur-Tate managed. Sand said in five of the last six years the Iowa Workforce Development audit his office released warned the state agency more oversight was necessary to ensure the federal grants it distributes were being used appropriately.

“This is the kind of thing that results when people don’t have a sense of oversight for how the money is getting spent,” Sand said.

Sand credited the agency for making some progress over the past six years, as he says Iowa Workforce Development was rocked by the pandemic and skyrocketing claims for unemployment benefits.

“At the same time…there is never any excuse for not providing enough oversight,” Sand said.

Sand told reporters the embezzlement was discovered by a person who took over the director’s duties while Spargur-Tate was on vacation and saw an invoice for auto body work on a client’s vehicle. The client didn’t have a vehicle.

The Youth and Adult Displaced Workers program Spargur-Tate ran was financed with a federal grant the Iowa Workforce Development agency awarded to Children and Families of Iowa.

Jesse Dougherty, a spokesman for Iowa Workforce Development, said the agency “takes seriously its role in preventing fraud in the workforce programs we administer” and the State Auditor’s report is a reminder that :sophisticated and committed fraudsters can still be successful.”

Dougherty said Iowa Workforce Development is “confident that its work to enhance oversight at both the subrecipient and outside auditor level will make it harder for such behavior to succeed in the future.”

Two decades ago the legislature’s Oversight Committee held hearings after several people were accused of misusing $1.8 million of federal funds sent to the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium

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