A Phoenix businessman has been arrested and charged over an alleged $8 million fraud and kickback scheme involving an Ohio community school serving vulnerable teenagers.
Jonathan Larry Ballew, 62, was detained by federal agents on Thursday, September 3, alongside Leondo Ramone Davenport, the former superintendent and operator of Dohn Community High School in Cincinnati.
Prosecutors allege that Ballew used companies he controlled to submit false invoices to the school for educational services, technology, staffing and building work between 2021 and 2024.
Davenport is accused of authorising payments worth more than $8 million, with Ballew allegedly returning more than $4 million to him in kickbacks, according to an eight-count indictment unsealed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
Phoenix man accused of using school funds for luxury spending
The indictment alleges that the pair used the money to fund luxury vehicles and rental properties. In one example cited by prosecutors, they allegedly signed a two-year lease in October 2023 for a holiday property near Miami costing $30,000 a month.
Dohn Community High School was established as a not-for-profit organisation in the late 1990s to support high school students recovering from addiction. It later operated as a publicly funded community school under Ohio law, independent of a traditional school district.
Davenport served as superintendent from 2015 to 2019 and, through a company he had incorporated, continued to operate the school until 2024. Dohn remained a community school until 2025.
Federal prosecutors said the case involved the alleged misuse of taxpayer-funded education money. Ohio Auditor Keith Faber described it as a kickback scheme in which public resources were used to enrich those involved.
Ballew and Davenport each face charges of wire fraud and conducting monetary transactions involving property allegedly derived from unlawful activity. Wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while the financial transaction charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years.
The FBI’s Cincinnati division and the Ohio auditor’s office assisted the investigation. Prosecutors said the inquiry was continuing and that further individuals could face scrutiny.
The charges remain allegations. Ballew and Davenport are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
