Education
Former Roswell school director charged with fraud
The former director of a school for troubled youth in Roswell is being investigated after authorities said she stole thousands from parents and passed herself off as a doctor.
Roswell police arrested Rommys Beltran on Thursday on more than 18 charges, including theft, fraud and tampering with physical evidence, stemming from her time running Advanced Youth Academy on Holcomb Bridge Road.
“The person in charge of the school was charging people tuition and essentially really taking their money for services they couldn’t provide,” Roswell Officer Lisa Holland told Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik.
The insurance commissioner’s office said Beltran is facing additional charges because it said she billed insurance companies for psychological services she provided, despite not being a doctor.
In a news release, Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens said Beltran was illegally billing for services.
“We have discovered more than $300,000 in insurance claims submitted for payment by Beltran before her arrest,” Hudgens said. “My investigators believe that many of the claims are fraudulent.”
“Justice needs to be done, not just for my son, but for all the families that haven’t even come forward,” parent Rhonda Repasz told Petchenik.
Channel 2 Action News first spoke to Repasz in August after we exposed dozens of police reports filed over issues at the school. She said she enrolled her 16-year-old son at the school after finding it on the Internet.
"When he finished the program and went to ninth grade, and we took him to enroll him in his public school, their accreditation was not good," Repasz said. "They just said the grades didn't count, nothing counted."
Repasz told Petchenik that she's out $12,000 and that her son is now struggling to retake his ninth grade classes while enrolled in the 10th grade.
“She knew what she was doing. She knew it was wrong. She deceived us. She lied to us and that’s wrong,” Repasz said. “I just don’t want this to ever happen to anyone else.”
Several families have hired local attorney Douglas Rohan to file suit against Beltran.
“What we’re looking at is the physical trauma, the psychological trauma these kids have experienced,” Rohan said. “These children are going to suffer for the rest of their lives for the emotional toll that was put on them at this school.”
Beltran told Petchenik that she denies any wrongdoing.
"I maintain my innocence," she said. "We will take this to trial and prove that this was all a big misunderstanding."
