Epic Charter School founders, ex-CFO facing criminal charges

OKLAHOMA CITY — The founders and former chief financial officer of Epic Charter Schools were arrested Thursday and are facing felony criminal charges alleging they diverted millions of taxpayer dollars in a complicated scheme that involved excessive management fees, state investigators said. Epic co-founders Ben Harris, 46, and David Chaney, 43, along with the school’s former CFO Josh Brock, 40, were arrested Thursday and taken to the Oklahoma County Detention Center for booking, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a press release. The OSBI criminal investigation unraveled the intricate scheme layer by layer, in spite of a lack of cooperation, legal obstacles and delay tactics.” Both state and federal officials have been investigating the school for allegedly embezzling millions in state funds by illegally inflating student enrollment counts. Among the biggest concerns of state investigators and a grand jury is Epic Youth Services, a management company owned by Chaney and Harris, which has received a 10% management fee paid for by public funds.