PRESCOTT - Prescott police Wednesday morning arrested Prescott Valley resident Raymond G. Parenteau at his home.
Officers took Parenteau into custody after a yearlong investigation revealed he allegedly defrauded the Prescott Unified School District of almost $20,000.
According to a police department press release, Parenteau contracted with the school district for $55 an hour to homeschool his 12-year-old autistic son.
Parenteau allegedly hired a certified special education instructor to work with his son and paid her $25 an hour. He allegedly kept the additional $30 an hour for himself.
During a nine-month period starting in January 2007, Parenteau allegedly charged the school district $36,258. He paid the special education assistant only $16,262 of the money he received from PUSD. Parenteau also allegedly billed the school district for hours not used for teaching his son and created false invoices.
Officers booked Parenteau into the Yavapai County Jail on felony fraudulent schemes and forgery charges. He currently is out on bail.
"The charges are unfounded. I will end up vindicated," Parenteau told the Daily Courier Thursday afternoon. "This gets PUSD what it wanted. I am not allowed to help other students. As a condition of my release on bail, I have to stay away from PUSD."
Parenteau advocated for several parents of autistic children for the past 18 months. In fact, as recently as Dec. 8, he spoke at a PUSD Governing Board meeting on behalf of a parent.
School officials asked the governing board to approve a due process hearing in response to a parent's request for an Individual Education Evaluation for an autistic child.
PUSD Superintendent Kevin Kapp said Parenteau had filed a complaint with the Arizona Department of Education alleging his son was not receiving adequate services. However, before a due process hearing on his complaint, the school district and Parenteau reached an agreement.
Kapp said everyone agreed that Parenteau's son "deserved additional services, what is known as 'compensatory' education, which is available to any special education student."
The superintendent said the school district agreed to pay for and provide services in Parenteau's home.
Parenteau billed the district the time the assistant was in his home, Kapp said, and then Parenteau paid the aide.
Kapp said district officials investigated billing versus payments to Parenteau. He said the county attorney's office reviewed the information and recommended the school district report the results to the Prescott Police Department.
Kapp said the money Parenteau received was for "educational services."
"With limited resources available for the education of all students, including special education students, it is very concerning that a parent may have manipulated the system for personal gain," he added.
Parenteau said he is "free on bond thanks to the support of the community I am helping."
Contact the reporter at prhoden@prescottaz.com
Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Article comment by:
GET A JOB!!!!
The editor has removed this comment because it violates the Terms of Use agreement for dCourier.com. He is innocent until proven guilty.
Posted: Monday, January 05, 2009
Article comment by:
Genius money making scheme was SARCASM, silly!
Of course the charges are trumped up. My post below was sarcastic. As if any advocate would go to all the trouble only to to pocket money himself, deny his child services, just to easily get caught. My sarcasm was meant to illustrate just how absurd these charges seem. My apologies if the sarcasm did not come through in my post. -- A special ed advocate from WA state, which is as corrupt as they come.
Posted: Monday, January 05, 2009
Article comment by:
Charges Dropped
Dear "Genius Money Making Scheme."
FYI 23 of the 31 trumped up charges have been dismissed do to lack of substance and the amount of supposed fraud has gone down from 21K to 5K. Why wasn’t this in the paper.
If Mr. Parenteau is guilty then so be it. If he is exonerated you as many of the other hateful people who posted on this story will owe him an apology.
What has Prescott come to???
Posted: Monday, January 05, 2009
Article comment by:
Genius Money Making Scheme
Now here's a get rich quick scheme: First: Spend countless hours writing complaints on behalf of your own kid and others' kids. Second: Irritate the school district so much with your complaints that your name becomes synonymous with "trouble" to every school district employee. Third: Battle your case in a hearing, where you win.... Only to... Fourth: Forge fake time slips and signatures knowing full well all the district who hates you has to do is check with the tutor on how much she billed and whether she signed the time slips. Yep, perfect recipe for getting rich off the school district. I can sure see why Parenteau decided on this course of action. Good thing he had that autistic kid - without THAT ticket to riches, Parenteau would be just another small time penniless ne'er-do-well.
Posted: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Article comment by:
Susan
As a former teacher and school attorney in this area, I hear "No Name Provided"'s concern. However, as a parent advocate and the parent of a disabled child myself, I also shake my head at his or her failure to see the "big picture." Yes, children who have the benefit of professional advocates or attorneys fare better than other children in public school--but usually only if the school is not in compliance with the law or has serious liability for which compensatory services (which are NOT available to all children--only those who have been previously been denied the educational services to which they were entitled). But we also hopefully benefit the other children because we provide motivation for the school to change their legally deficient practices for other children as well. I know that many educators advocate for disabled children within the confines of their employment--many of them are my clients in their capacity as parents of their own disabled children. Most of us care about all of the children, not just our own or our own clients, but we are limited in what we can address in the legal forum.
David is right--you've now focused the advocate community's attention on your community. So the spotlight should reveal the true state of the special education program there.
P.S. And yes--anonymity in a web post does not change your obligations under FERPA--not to mention your professional responsibilities whether or not there was a federal law in this area.
Posted: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Article comment by:
david
Hard to tell, heads or tails, if Ray did something that was not kosher. One thing that has happened is PUSD is now on the radar of advocates all over the country. (Texas here). Please add at least 2 more issues for PUSD that needs to address specific to children with disabilities. or citizen in Prescott (American Disability Act issues. A check of the PUSD website for accessibility indicates that it may not accessible to individuals with visuals impairments. Also the various athletic facilities for PUSD ( football stadium, basketball court, etc) does not appear to be accessible for wheelchairs/ mobility impaired students or citizens of Prescott. This could be be complaint to the Office of Civil Rights. Is that right Ray ? db
Posted: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Article comment by:
No name provided
No Name Provided - As a former school employee, you should be aware of FERPA law. Your comments in this venue do not comply with FERPA law. You do not have the right to disclose a child's services, supports or educational setting with the written, signed consent of the parent.
Posted: Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Article comment by:
Dad Fourkids
There is far more to this story than the appologists would have us believe. Ray has worked tirelessly not only to advocate for his own son, but also as an advocate for other children being denied FAPE as outlined under Federal Law. He has prevailed on multiple occasions, exposing the sins of omission and comission by different school districts. What PUSD's actions represent is at its core "payback". Should the truth come out in court, there will be people in highly paid positions of authority who will be subject to abuse of office charges.
Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Article comment by:
Sad to see this through out the country
I don't even live in this area and found out about this story--we had a similar one out here in California and the special ed staff LOVE to turn around and talk about all the "eggshells" they walked on and how "horrible" this was for everyon else's kid as if the child in question did not need specialized services--every chld is different. It is disgusting to read staff breaking FERPA and confidentiality rights is common all over the country when they are really just full of sour grapes.
Ignorant ignorant and bitter staff that is... not the really good ones :(.
Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Article comment by:
SERIOUSLY???
I viewed the PUSD in Crisis website and it really looks like a hoax. Who is in this group? Is it just Ray and his attempt at more propaganda or are there actually other members? Any website that has survey questions like "Based on the article in the Prescott Courier I believe that Mr. Parenteau is: a. guilty, b. not guilty, c. a victim of a witch hunt" is questionable at best. Seriously? How does swindling the schools out of thousands of dollars constitute a witch hunt? Thousands of dollars, I might add, that were slated to be spent educating HIS kid. And where does Mr. Parenteau think all of this money is coming from? Perhaps he didn't get the memo that public schools are seriously underfunded in this country. Add a floundering economy and a costly war and we get even LESS funding. So by stealing from PUSD, Ray would LITERALLY be taking money away from innocent children who desperately need those resources.
Ray, your son is autistic. No amount of money thrown at you will change that. It's time you man up and teach your son yourself. No teacher is going to be more effective than you, the parent. Quit spending all of your efforts sabotaging the school's every attempt to help your son and actually spend some time with him.
Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008
Article comment by:
Ranting and Angry
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008
Article comment by:
Time for PUSD to Change!!
Why has PUSD taken the same approach to special needs education that Social Security uses: deny all services and make you fight for the appropriate education? These educators are supposed to be ADVOCATES not the barrier between proper education for these special children. It's sad to see these events unfold but I hope this serves as a wake up call to the improper treatment of Special Needs students in PUSD by Dan Balcerak, special ed. director, and Kevin Kapp. It's TIME FOR A CHANGE in both attitude and approach!!! I mean, at least the last Special Ed. Director was incompetent - what's YOUR excuse, Dan?
Posted: Sunday, December 21, 2008
Article comment by:
PUSDinCRISIS.com
PUSDinCRISIS.com will be posting copies of the State and Federal complaint documents on our website this week. Additionally some updated information on this investigation and a new one unfolding. We want to get to the truth of the situation no matter the outcome. The citizens of Prescott deserve to know the facts. PUSDinCRISIS.com
Posted: Sunday, December 21, 2008
Article comment by:
Santa's Helper
To Lies Abound - it's OK to have a hunch about who did what but WE ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE and what you represent! No good deed goes unpunished. A lesson to learn for all and to all HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Posted: Saturday, December 20, 2008
Article comment by:
Lies abound
No Name Provided #2: What a pack of lies that post is! PUSD hasn't lost any "state complaints", the Dept. of Justice wasn't in Kapp's office the other day either. There have been complaints filed and that about it. I have a hunch who posted those lies too.
