Former Arizona Education Department employee acquitted of fraud sues Mayes, Horne

A former employee of the Arizona Department of Education is suing both Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes and Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne for accusing him of committing fraud.

In 2024, Mayes sued a group of employees from the Education Department over allegations of participating in fraud while administering the state’s private school voucher program, called Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.

One of those employees, Dorrian Jones, won his case in court last year. The others took plea deals.

But after the case, Horne said in a public statement that Jones should have been convicted.

“When my department found fraud in the ESA program, we sent the case to the attorney general for prosecution. Mayes is so incompetent that someone who should have been convicted was acquitted,” Horne wrote.

In his complaint filed Feb. 26, Jones argues the statement is defamatory and claims the case has permanently damaged his life, even though he was acquitted.

Jones still owes tens of thousands of dollars in attorneys fees and says the negative coverage of the fraud case has made it impossible for him to get a steady job.

“Mr. Jones now supports himself through DoorDash food delivery and any other gig work he can get, including pressing and cleaning comic books for clients,” the complaint states.

Jones is seeking damages from Mayes for “gross negligence” in her investigation and from Horne for defamation and “malicious prosecution.”

Horne did not respond to a request for comment, and Mayes declined to comment.

Jones’ attorney stated in the complaint that Education Department officials intentionally tried to implicate Jones in crimes he didn’t commit to discredit him.

“[Jones] knew too much about the procedures and operations of the ESA department that they desperately wished to hide from investigators, the Attorney General, the Auditor General, and the public,” the complaint states.

Jones’ attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

As for what unsavory things Jones knew about the program, those are also spelled out in the complaint.

Jones said he and other ADE employees were instructed not to investigate purchases ESA families used with the department’s dollars, even though ESA funding is meant to be used only for educational purposes.

“It was made very clear by leadership that the employees doing the approvals were not to act as investigators,” the filing states.

Jones also said other employees were fired or admonished for raising concern about the administration of the ESA program, and that he declined two offers to manage more of the ESA departments because he wanted to maintain a distance from it.

Mayes’ charges against Jones came as a complete surprise, according to the complaint.

Jones claimed Mayes’ investigators didn’t try to speak with him and never had any real evidence against him.