Former State Welfare Director Indicted For Theft

Former Ohio Department of Human Services director Arnold Tompkins has been indicted on federal charges of stealing 66 thousand dollars from the federal economic-stimulus program. Tompkins and Mitchell Dadante allegedly stole the money from the Project Hire Initiative in 2009 when they co-owned an industry training center in Lewis Center by submitting false invoices for jobs that didn’t exist. Tompkins was director from 1993 to 1998. The department is now called the Ohio Department of Job and Family services. During his tenure, he recommended the department award several contracts to consulting firms Accenture and American Management Systems, and later worked for them. He pleaded guilty in 2001 to two misdemeanor ethics charges and sentenced to 300 hours of community service.