Federal agents, Minnesota investigators raid 5 Twin Cities autism centers as part of fraud probe
Federal agents raided five autism centers in the Twin Cities on Tuesday alongside more than a dozen daycare sites as part of an ongoing probe into suspected fraud.
The sites in question, according to state officials, are Global Star Therapy LLC in Savage; Empower Skill Academy in Fridley; Aspen Associates LLC in Minneapolis and in Fridley; and Mendota Autism in Mendota Heights.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services said that the state DHS has conducted 444 on-site visits of EIDBI service providers; it was those site visits that prompted DHS to designate the program as "high risk." A revalidation of EIDBI is underway with a deadline of May 31.
"We are aware that search warrants are being executed at autism centers this morning. This is an important action for families who rely on autism services and for Minnesota taxpayers fed up – as I am – with criminals taking advantage of the systems we have in place to deliver social services," Human Services Commissioner Shireen Gandhi said in part in a statement.
While state officials touted collaboration with federal agencies, FBI Director Kash Patel took to social media to refute the idea that Minnesota leaders should take any credit.
"This FBI and DOJ with our DHS partners drafted and executed every search warrant today. But go ahead and take credit for our work while we smoke out the fraud plaguing Minnesota under your governorship," Patel said on X in response to a statement from Gov. Tim Walz.
WCCO visited three of the five autism service centers raided on Tuesday. On each occasion at Empower Skill Academy, Aspen Associates and Mendota Autism, the doors were closed and no one answered in person. A man identifying himself as an employee at the Aspen location in Fridley said over the phone that he didn't understand why the raid happened, confirming that law enforcement confiscated their electronic equipment.
Data obtained by WCCO shows that these three facilities requested and received hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in reimbursements. The figures are a lump sum of DHS reimbursements, meaning they are earmarked for more than EIDBI alone.
In 2023, Empower asked for about $526,000 from the state. That figure jumped to about $2.9 million by 2025, with Minnesota approving around $2.7 million in reimbursements.
Aspen requested $975 thousand last year, only to be reimbursed approximately $390,000.
Mendota Autism ultimately received about $743,000 last year.