12 charged in San Diego in $10M Southern California childcare fraud scheme (78) — too long Twelve arrested in San Diego for $10M childcare subsidy fraud (52)
Federal authorities charged a dozen people for fraudulently collecting more than $10 million in government childcare payments in Southern California. The 12 defendants said they operated licensed, at-home childcare facilities, but rarely or never had children in their care, according to prosecutors.
The charges were jointly announced in San Diego by the Justice Department and the criminal investigations division of the IRS. All 12 defendants were arrested Thursday, and the charges were unsealed Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors say the defendants submitted attendance records documenting when children supposedly attended, then collected payments from government childcare subsidy programs. In some cases, the fraud stretched for months or years, prosecutors said.
One defendant, Turkiya Alawad, 63, was outside the U.S. between Jan. 1, 2024, and Jan. 30, 2024, but submitted and collected childcare payments during that period, prosecutors say.
Another defendant, Abdulrahman Alawad, 25, claimed to provide childcare in March and April. Surveillance footage shows children entered the facility only once, on the day a state inspector showed up, prosecutors said. Alawad is alleged to have received more than $300,000 in payments in 2025.
Other defendants collected more than $1 million apiece in childcare subsidy payments, prosecutors said.
The charges are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to investigate and charge alleged fraud in government programs. Vice President JD Vance chairs the administration’s task force on the effort.
The case has similarities to the Minnesota-based Feeding Our Future case. Federal prosecutors charged that organization with scamming Minnesota and federal taxpayers out of millions in childcare and meal subsidies. Feeding Our Future submitted roughly $4.6 million in claims to the childcare Assistance Program.
Fahima Mahamud, 50, the operator of Feeding Our Future’s childcare facility, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges in July. The facility’s leader, Aimee Bock, was sentenced to 41 years in prison in May for fraud and conspiracy charges. She has appealed her conviction.
The IRS Criminal Investigations Division had been investigating the California facilities for the past several months.
