Minnesota Style Fraud

Posted July 11, 2026 (but from 2023.  Seems similar to case below so included)

Mary Wickersham (also known as Mary Sullivan) was the former executive director of the Miss Florida Scholarship Program. In 2023, she was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $243,000 in restitution after stealing donation money from the organization. 

Wickersham, who directed the program from 2002 to 2018, secretly created a fake corporation called "Miss Florida LLC" in 2011 to divert sponsorship funds and donations into a personal bank account. She then spent the money on shopping sprees, online dating websites, utility bills, and maid services. The financial discrepancies were discovered by new leadership after she left, leading to an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Justice.

July 11, 2026

Former Miss America contestant and Miss North Dakota Jill Mertens (formerly Jill Nelson) pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding a taxpayer-funded childcare program out of $426,000. She admitted to applying for COVID-19 relief and state childcare grants by claiming to employ 23 teachers who didn't exist and inflating the hours of 11 actual employees. [1, 2]

Details of the Case

• The Scheme: Mertens owned three Minnesota daycares: Creative Stars Academy in Kasson, Creative Stars Academy in Rochester, and Tree of Life Academy in Ramsey. Prosecutors revealed she used the taxpayer funds from the state's Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program for other purposes. [1, 2, 3]
• The Pageant: Mertens competed in the 2001 Miss America Pageant after being crowned Miss North Dakota. [1]
• The Aftermath: All three of her daycare locations have since been closed, and she previously filed for bankruptcy. Her sentencing guidelines call for approximately two years in federal prison, with a final date to be set pending a probation review.

July 11, 2026

Meet Fahima Mahamud: - Operated the largest government funded Learing Center in Minnesota, received over $4.6 million - Also received $850,000 for the Feeding Our Future scam and bought real estate with the money - Tried to escape to the UK before being caught by the FBI - Just PLEAD GUILTY to daycare fraud and covid fraud.

But we were all told that Nick just happened to visit on a day when there were not many children.  

July 11, 2026

Palace Daycare collected $9.4 million last year by allegedly handling 8,000 different patients. But when Nick Shirley and Dr. Oz show up on camera to ask the staff for their actual daily numbers, the math immediately falls apart, and the manager fakes a phone call to hide it.

The staff claims they see about 100 patients a day across two shifts. But the receptionist admits 8,000 patients a year is impossible.

But the most revealing evidence is the staff itself--every single person in the front office was hired exactly one month ago. The entire previous workforce left at once.

The current employees do not know who manages the business. They have never met the owners. They cannot name their actual employer.

This is known as a structural reset. In organized fraud, clearing out legacy staff creates a human shield of ignorance. If new workers lack operational history, they can sit under questioning and truthfully say they know nothing.

This is not a business with high employee turnover. Rather, it's a financial crime scene.