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Posted on 01/19/2026 4:08:17 PM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
A highly acclaimed Nigerian professor at Aquinas College is facing two decades in prison after she admitted to swindling more than $1 million from taxpayers and poor minority children in West Michigan.
Nkechy Ezeh, founder and CEO of the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, pleaded guilty last week to wire fraud and tax evasion in a scheme that forced the nonprofit to shut down after a dozen years preparing about 8,000 preschoolers for kindergarten in Kent County, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, WOOD reports.
Ezeh worked with ELNC bookkeeper Sharon Killebrew to create nearly $500,000 in fake invoices, as well as created fake daycare businesses to siphon off hundreds of thousands of dollars more, which Ezeh used for personal travel to Hawaii, Nigeria and Liberia, according to court documents cited by the news site.
The case comes amid sprawling investigations into fraud in government funded child care programs in Minnesota, Ohio and other states.
The investigations are motivated in part by a viral YouTube video last month that featured what appeared to be a largely vacant “Quality Learing [sic] Center” in Minneapolis that collected $4 million in recent years to provide child care services to the Somali community, Fox News reports.
The learning center is part of a broader scandal involving alleged social services fraud largely tied to the Somali community in the Twin Cities that U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said last month could exceed $1 billion once investigations into Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program are complete. Officials have followed some of the funds to the Somali terror group Al-Shabab, according to Fox.
Ezeh’s attorney, Mary Chartier, told MLive her client “is committed to taking full responsibility and accountability for her actions.
“She is deeply remorseful to anyone who has been negatively impacted,” Chartier said.
ELNC President Amy DeLeeuw offered a decidedly different perspective following Ezeh’s plea hearing in U.S. District Court on Jan. 14, noting in a statement the former CEO’s “failure to meaningfully articulate the nature and scope of her criminal misconduct.”
“Her theft of million of dollars intended for the most vulnerable of children was brazen, all encompassing and unconscionable,” DeLeeuw said.
“To date, Nkechy has made no effort to repay any of the millions of dollars she stole from ELNC,” the statement read. “I trust Nkechy’s demeanor at today’s hearing did not go unnoticed by Chief Judge Hala Jarbou. I and the board will have more to say in our victim impact statement and look forward to her sentencing hearing on May 13.”
Killebrew pleaded guilty earlier this year to engaging in conspiracy to defraud a federally funded program of $1,170,935 and tax evasion, and was sentenced to four years, six months in prison.
Ezeh agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Early Head Start Programs and other organizations as part of her plea agreement, which also detailed $390,000 in back taxes, according to media reports.
In a 2022 profile for Voyage Michigan, Ezeh described how she came to America from Nigeria with just a high school diploma, then worked while raising five children and earning a doctorate degree, eventually landing a full tenured professorship at Aquinas College.
“She founded the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative (ELNC) for the purpose of planning and designing an intentional preschool service system aimed at providing, expanding, and sustaining the capacity of high-quality early care and education programs in the vulnerable neighborhoods of Grand Rapids,” according to the profile, which claimed ELNC raised $35 million in its first decade as it created over 544 preschool slots.
“I am very careful with the work that I get involved in now. I have gotten off many of boards and committees that do not add value to who I am,” Ezeh said. “All projects or charities that I am involved in must balance my brain and complete who I am.”
Ezeh described her approach to her work in a short clip on “Inclusive Growth in Kent County” posted to YouTube by the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy in 2021.
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At least she spelled “learning” correctly and not learing. Let’s grant ber a pardon why don’t we.
“”””In a 2022 profile for Voyage Michigan, Ezeh described how she came to America from Nigeria with just a high school diploma, then worked while raising five children and earning a doctorate degree, eventually landing a full tenured professorship at Aquinas College.””””
Yup, she came to the USA with a high school diploma and years of witnessing Nigerian email scams.
Work for your money na that’s too hard it’s easier to Scam
No, she isn't. She is sorry she got caught.
“I am very careful with the work that I get involved in now. I have gotten off many of boards and committees that do not add value to who I am,” Ezeh said. “All projects or charities that I am involved in must balance my brain and complete who I am.”
Fact: some people are born grifters, from a long line of grifters. You can't fool Mother Nature.
PREPARING FOR KINDERGARTEN??????
THE JOKES JUST WRITE THEMSELVES
It’s going to be DRIP - DRIP - DRIP here for a long time...a lot of crooks to uncover and round up - all African countries! Tip of the iceberg!
“must balance my brain”
Oh yes. That’s important part isn’t it. She deserves nothing less than a balanced brain.
NIGERIAN “PROFESSOR” IS A JOKE BY ITSELF.....
Does anyone think we need a return of DOGE?
Somalian in MN: “Hey, get lost. We’re still Number One in fraud.”
“”””It’s going to be DRIP - DRIP - DRIP here for a long time...a lot of crooks to uncover and round up - all African countries! Tip of the iceberg!””””
Thus far it is the Africans doing the child care fraud.
Perhaps the Latinos have ignored the child care fraud opportunity and stuck with their well-honed skills of drug trafficking.
Maybe when California is put under the spot light aliens from other countries will be found dealing in child care fraud.
Say it ain’t so … is she a relative of Harmon ?
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A Nigerian professor, Nkechy Ezeh, founder and CEO of the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative is facing two decades in prison after she admitted to swindling more than $1 million from taxpayers and poor minority children in West Michigan.
Nkechy Ezeh pleaded guilty last week to wire fraud and tax evasion in a scheme that forced the nonprofit to shut down after a dozen years preparing about 8,000 preschoolers for kindergarten in Kent County, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.
“”Does anyone think we need a return of DOGE?””
Wouldn’t be a bad idea...SOMEONE needs to mind the store!!!!
Thirty people lost their job Wednesday as a result.
According to the lawsuit filed, the nonprofit launched an internal investigation in early 2023 after a whistleblower’s complaint relating to Dr. Ezeh’s alleged conduct, specifically referencing her alleged “reckless spending.”
Democrats and their butt boys in the press have already given her a pass - this story won't have legs.
“Democrats and their butt boys in the press have already given her a pass - this story won’t have legs.”
It’s got legs here ahole.
“Oh, he’ll never get the death penalty, what’s the point?” “Oh, they’ll never get all the money back, so why bother?”
You weak, amoral apologists are sickening.
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