Posted on 10/08/2026 3:11:02 PM PDT by CFW
(The Center Square) – An Ohio college that touted a “Free College Benefit Program” was actually illegally funded with millions in taxpayer dollars, according to indictments released Thursday.
A grand jury in Jefferson County indicted three people for stealing $20 million from Eastern Gateway Community College, a state school which has now closed, Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber said.
Michael Perik, Nicole Rowe Colclasure and Michael Geoghegan are accused of diverting Pell grants and other federal financial aid state funds through “fraudulent reimbursements and illegal incentive payments, “ Faber said Thursday.
The “Free College Benefit Program” caused the school’s enrollment to jump, Faber said. Many of the new students lived out of state and took online classes, according to the auditor.
“These public resources were supposed to help disadvantaged students in an area of the state where educational opportunities were scarce,” Faber said. “Instead, it appears these individuals took advantage of their positions, and students were left out in the cold.”
Perik is accused of using four separate for-profit companies he owned to divert money from the college. Those companies controlled attendance verification, enrollment, fees, access to financial and other “critical functions” at the college, according to Faber.
[snip]
Gateway Community College, a public, two-year community college operating under the authority of the Ohio Department of Public Education, was closed in 2025.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecentersquare.com ...
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Obama made it legal to steal from Americans. All checks and balances were ignored. THIS is why our nation is in so much debt.
Could open his own place.
If these programs didn’t exist in the first place, then nobody could ever steal from them.
That’s what Nicole gets for hanging out with two Mikes.
Around here, one is enough.
So Perik, Colclasure and Geoghegan get life in prison and have to pay it back?
Why does anything FREE always COST the Taxpayers? *SPIT*
Glad these rats got caught. Now, do all the other states!
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Michael Perik, Nicole Rowe Colclasure and Michael Geoghegan are accused of diverting Pell grants and other federal financial aid state funds through “fraudulent reimbursements and illegal incentive payments, “
No truer words have been spoken. It seems our government has become a fount by which unaccountable giveaway programs get created and never audited.
More news from today:
Two non-citizens were arrested and charged today in Alabama with UNLAWFULLY VOTING in federal elections.
1) A Jamaican national Staciann Pollion Davis, 42, a lawful permanent resident, (shown below) was charged by criminal complaint with allegedly voting as an alien in the November 2024 general election.
2) A Peruvian national Silvia Delgado Phelps, 78, a lawful permanent resident, was charged by criminal complaint with allegedly voting as an alien in multiple elections in Baldwin County, Alabama.
I wonder how many of the election fraudster’s “foot soldiers” will see some of these new stories on arrests and say “Nah, I’m not doing it this year”.
Bingo.
Uniparty programs.
Didn't one of the fraudsters in MN or CA audaciously blame the government for not being better watchdogs to top them from stealing?
Old saying: If it's free then it's for me, I'll take three.
typo. to stop them
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