Brett DiBiase pleads guilty in DHS embezzlement case
December 17, 2020
One of the defendants in what State Auditor Shad White has called the “largest public embezzlement case in state history” has pled guilty.
According to a tweet from the state auditor, Brett DiBiase, the former pro wrestler, pled guilty to charges related to the investigation that stemmed from the Mississippi Department of Human Services’ misuse of funds intended for the ‘Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)’ program.
Today Brett Dibiase, one of the people we arrested in the DHS embezzlement case, pleaded guilty.
He has pledged to continue cooperation with the prosecution.
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Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves leaves the Capital Club at Capital Towers in Jackson after the Stennis Capitol Press Forum Jackson Monday, January 14, 2019. Credit: Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America
Who’s getting rich off child support?
(Hint: It’s not the moms)
Editor’s note: This story is part two in a series examining Mississippi’s child support enforcement program. Read the other stories here.
In 2019, kids in Mississippi’s child support program got an average of about $900.
The same year, Gov. Tate Reeves’ campaign received $25,000 from the wealthy private government contractor who runs the public service.
‘unf-ck’ its child support program
A stack of cash money that noncustodial parents paid to help care for their kids sat unsupervised on a table in the middle of a room at Mississippi’s child support disbursement unit.
Local government contractor Rob Wells encountered the scene in 2010 when he visited the office to look for ways to improve a deeply flawed and antiquated system overseen by the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
The unit was responsible for intaking child support money, a debt the state imposes mostly on separated fathers, and issuing it to the correct family.
Many mothers had complained of long delays in receiving the funds. Wells knew about this because his company ran the call center where parents could call for help on their cases.