CHILD CARE PROVIDER CONVICTED OF FELONY THEFT
FROM STATE FAMILY DAY CARE PROGRAM

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Erica Patrice Whiting, of the 7100 block of Bexhill Road in Baltimore County, the former operator of Little Friends Day Care, in Pikesville, plead guilty and was convicted in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County for felony theft of $8,866.00 from the public assistance program called Purchase of Care. The Honorable John Grason Turnbull, II imposed a suspended sentence and ordered Ms. Whiting to complete two years of supervised probation. During probation, the 35 year-old Whiting must pay restitution to the Baltimore County Department of Social Services, the administrators of the family day care program, in the amount of $8,866.00.

The theft conviction is based on the fact that from about November 1, 2002 until August 14, 2003, Erica Whiting fraudulently obtained $8,866.00 from the Purchase of Care Program administered by the Baltimore County Department of Social Services, by falsely representing that she provided child care for two eligible children when, in fact, she did not. In October 2002, infant twins eligible for public assistance to pay day care expenses, left Ms. Whiting’s Little Friends Day Care to be cared for by their grandmother. Whiting continued to bill the State for more than nine months after the children left her care.

This case was investigated and prosecuted by Office of the Attorney General, Criminal Investigations Division (CID) and the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Human Resources, with the assistance of the Maryland State Police.

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