(The Center Square) – The director of a Caddo Parish nonprofit was arrested Tuesday after investigators say she spent about $37,500 intended for children’s academic support and life skills training on personal expenses, including vehicle payments, jewelry and travel.
Jazmine King, 35, of Blanchard, faces felony theft and filing or maintaining false public records charges, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office announced Wednesday. King was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison after her arrest by the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation.
The Legislature appropriated $75,000 to Divine Kingdom Ministries Inc. for the program. The state Treasury Department deposited an initial $37,500 advance into the nonprofit’s account under a cooperative endeavor agreement, according to the attorney general’s office. The announcement did not say whether the remaining $37,500 was paid.
Treasury employees flagged the nonprofit’s first cost report after seeing what investigators described as suspicious cash-back transactions, missing invoices and an Airbnb purchase. They also found that King had paid herself a salary without maintaining timesheets, a payroll ledger or records of the days and hours she worked, the attorney general’s office said.
Treasury brought its concerns to the state Office of the Inspector General, which requested help from the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation.
“Instead of enriching the lives of young people in north Louisiana, Ms. King appears to have used the hard-earned tax dollars of the men and women of Louisiana to enrich herself instead,” Murrill said in a statement.
Investigators say King used program funds for a personal car note, car insurance, consumer debt, jewelry, residential utilities and travel. They also say she withdrew cash, bought an unauthorized vehicle and paid people for work that was never performed.
“This money was appropriated so children in north Louisiana would get academic support,” Inspector General Angele Davis said. “Our investigators found it paid for a car note, jewelry, and a weekend in Monroe. When Treasury saw something wrong in the cost reports, they referred it to us; we built the case and took it to the Attorney General. That is the system working the way taxpayers should expect it to work, and it is how we intend to handle every dollar that leaves this state through a nonprofit appropriation.”
East Baton Rouge Parish jail records list a $40,000 bond for the theft charge and a $5,000 bond for the false public records charge. Both entries are marked “ROR,” or release on recognizance. The records do not establish that King paid $45,000 to secure her release.
