INDIANAPOLIS -- Former employees and a former client of an Indianapolis day care center under state scrutiny said Friday they knew the business was cheating the system, which is why they left.

According to a Family and Social Services Administration audit, workers at Jesus Fellowship Kidz Ministry, on Indianapolis' west side, swiped Hoosier Works cards for children who were not at the day care, which is a violation.

The day care's owner blamed issues on former employees that he said he had fired, but Alfreda Whiteside and Vivian Edelen, who both once worked at Jesus Fellowship, said they were disturbed by what they saw there, 6News' Kara Kenney reported.

The facility receives more than $70,000 a year from taxpayer money. The more children who are assisted, the more money they get.

Owner Jonathan Benjamin blamed discrepancies in the way children were being counted, pointed out in the FSSA audit, on ex-workers.

"I laid all of them out of this place," he said.

Whiteside said she quit after she raised concerns about how children were counted during meal time.

"I said, 'Well, they wasn't here.' He said, 'We need to check all the kids,'" Whiteside said. "I said, 'But some of the kids don't attend the day care anymore.'"

Edelen said she was fired after raising the same concern.

"He was asking us to put children on the menu that had not been participating," she said. "I thought that was dishonest."

Both women said they were unaware that the day care had received more than $100,000 in state funding since 2008, contending that the facility sometimes lacked food and that they brought in their own.

Sherra McClung said she pulled her three children from the center after Benjamin repeatedly asked for her Hoosier Works card and pin number, which is against state regulations.

"He called me asking me again for my card number and pin number and for a copy of my card, and I said right there, 'I'm pulling them out. You want to get paid for my kids not attending,'" she said.

Benjamin declined to talk to 6News again on Friday, but manager Cindy Horton said former employees were improperly counting children.

"That's how disgruntled employees are, and you know that," Horton said, also denying the allegation that there had been a lack of food. "They did right things with the money, but Freda and Vivian weren't running it correctly."

Horton admitted there had been issues in the past, but said the day care is doing all it can to get back on track, although she didn't say if money would be repaid to taxpayers.

The day care submitted a corrective action plan to the state. FSSA said it will closely monitor the facility and that if it continues to violate state policies, its license could be revoked or it could face criminal prosecution.

The Department of Education is also looking into the day care because they administer the food program.

Investigators didn't say if they had been in contact with the former employees.

More Information:

Jesus Fellowship Kidz Ministry Audit

Jesus Fellowship Kidz Ministry's Corrective Action Plan