A woman who prosecutors say continued to receive payments from Arizona’s school voucher program after leaving the state has pleaded guilty to theft in Pima County. Amanda Maestas entered a guilty plea to a single count of theft, a Class 6 felony, for improperly taking funds from the state-run Empowerment Scholarship Account program. Court documents and statements by investigators say Maestas continued to collect ESA disbursements after she and her child moved to Texas, a development that rendered the child ineligible for the program.
The Empowerment Scholarship Account program is designed to give families who qualify access to public education funds that can be used for private schooling and other approved educational expenses. State officials say the program requires beneficiaries to meet residency and other eligibility thresholds to continue receiving funds. The Attorney General’s Office reported that Maestas did not meet those requirements once she and her child established residence in Texas, yet withdrawals and payments tied to the family’s ESA account persisted after the move. The sign outside the Arizona government office that administers the program stands as a visible reminder of the state oversight tied to these funds.
Sign reading “EDUCATION BUILDING” outside a government office in Arizona, illustrating the state offices connected to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program at the center of the theft case.
According to prosecutors, bank and program records were central to the case. Those materials, the Attorney General’s Office said, documented continued ESA withdrawals and transactions after the child and family were no longer living in Arizona. A composite image filed in connection with the matter includes what appears to be a booking photograph overlaid with banking records prosecutors say show the ongoing withdrawals. Under the terms of the plea agreement reached in Pima County, Maestas will be ordered to pay $28,433 in restitution to the ESA program and is expected to serve a term of supervised probation following the guilty plea.
Composite image showing a woman’s booking photo overlaid on bank records — material prosecutors say documents continued ESA withdrawals after the child and family moved to Texas.
The case was handled publicly by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which announced the plea and the terms tied to restitution and supervision. Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, emphasized in the office’s statement that individuals who defraud the education program will be pursued and held accountable, reflecting the state’s position on misuse of ESA funds. Prosecutors charged Maestas with a Class 6 felony count of theft; under Arizona law, that classification was the basis of the plea agreement reached in Pima County.
This prosecution comes amid broader public scrutiny of the Empowerment Scholarship Account program. The ESA voucher approach has been a contentious issue in Arizona politics: supporters argue it expands parental choice by allowing public education dollars to flow to private schooling and other education-related services, while critics maintain the program requires tighter oversight and restrictions to prevent misuse. In recent months, state authorities and investigative reporters have highlighted additional alleged instances of improper ESA expenditures and other enforcement actions involving the program.
Those related reports and cases have ranged widely in allegations and outcomes. Published accounts have described a variety of alleged misspent ESA purchases and investigative probes that examined patterns of duplicative purchases tied to beneficiaries, along with other criminal prosecutions involving out-of-state defendants accused of siphoning program funds. Examples surfaced in public reporting include allegations of inappropriate purchases such as condoms, gift cards and wedding gifts; examples of serial duplicate purchases like multiple tablets and AirPods tied to single accounts; and a separate prosecution of an out-of-state couple accused of stealing roughly $110,000 from the voucher program. The Maestas matter adds to a series of enforcement and investigative efforts that state officials have highlighted while pursuing alleged misuse of ESA dollars.
Legal proceedings in Maestas’s case will continue with a sentencing hearing scheduled for June 26. Under the plea agreement filed in Pima County, Maestas will be required to make full restitution of $28,433 to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program and is expected to be placed on supervised probation; no other penalties were announced in the office’s public statement. The criminal filing and the Attorney General’s announcement set out the core facts the state relied upon in advancing and resolving the theft prosecution: that the beneficiary’s residence had changed to Texas, making the child ineligible for ESA payments, and that withdrawals and receipts tied to the account continued after that relocation.
Court records and the Attorney General’s Office account form the basis of the public record in the case; beyond the restitution figure, the classification of the offense as a Class 6 felony, and the scheduled sentencing date, officials have not released additional punitive measures or ancillary penalties in conjunction with the plea. The Pima County filing and the Attorney General’s statement constitute the official descriptions of the charges, the plea agreement terms and the government’s rationale for prosecuting the alleged misuse of public education funds tied to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program.