EXCLUSIVE: Email suggests Missouri House candidate, school board member banked parents’ daycare fees in personal account 

St. Joseph, Missouri, has referred allegations to police that a current Missouri House candidate had parental daycare payments meant for a nonprofit routed to her personal account.

According to an email from City Manager Mike Schumacher, obtained exclusively by Heartlander News, the city discovered that “some payments [by parents for daycare expenses] went to a personal Venmo account which was operated by the former executive director.”

In September, LaTonya Williams, now running for Missouri House District 10 and previously executive director of the Bartlett Center, an urban social services provider, announced on social media that she had been terminated by the now-defunct nonprofit, according to local KQ2 News.

The move came as the nonprofit’s board voted to dissolve “after a year of financial hurdles, including falling more than $14,000 behind on rent,” local media reported.

Describing the allegations of improper payments by parents to Williams as “an accurate depiction of events,” the city “referred this issue to the Police Department,” noting that this would be its last communication on the matter “since we cannot comment on active investigations,” the email said.

The nonprofit operated a daycare center under a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and state subsidies.

CDBG funds are grants distributed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that support low-income social service programs, such as senior centers and daycare centers.

The federal grants and state funding subsidize operations, while parents still have to pay fees to the center.

Previously, the city covered the nonprofit’s payroll expense of $20,600 for the last two weeks of September. The email also noted that money from the CDBG program that was under the control of the nonprofit’s accountant was “used as required.”

The decision to close the Bartlett Center was made after the financials showed that the cost to the city for payroll alone would reach $60,000 by Oct. 30, according to the email.

The city concluded that, in addition to payroll expenses, there was an unknown liability for prepaid parents’ fees, plus money due to help remediate certain inspection violations.

“While it is a heartbreaking decision to dissolve, it is our primary responsibility to ensure care is continued for our children,” Bartlett Center President Jayne Roberts said, according to local media.

Still, as the dissolution notice makes clear, the Bartlett Center remains responsible for the nonprofit’s liabilities.

“The Corporation shall pay, satisfy, and discharge all of its corporate debts, liabilities, and obligations from available corporate funds and assets,” the notice said.

Part of that liability will be paying back parents once it can be determined how much they prepaid.

Heartlander News reached out to city authorities and local police for comment but received no reply by publication time.

This isn’t the first time Williams, an at-large member of the St. Joseph School District Board of Education (SJSD), has faced controversy over the alleged commingling of her personal funds with those of the Bartlett Center.

Heartlander News previously reported that Williams, who served as SJSD president until April, was running a personal catering business from the nonprofit daycare’s kitchens.

For months, the business operated without a health permit or business or alcohol license while using the nonprofit’s commercial kitchen without permission at a building owned by the city.

The revelations came after a member of the public complained about various violations of state and city ordinances.

Williams, whose own public comments indicated she was commingling funds between her business and the nonprofit – ostensibly to help fund the nonprofit – refused to answer any questions from Heartlander News about how the accounting was being reconciled.

Williams instead wanted to know why Heartlander News was “suddenly interested in the businesses of a black single mother?”

SJSD was rocked in 2025 by revelations of a large budget shortfall, just weeks after the board had approved its latest budget under then-SJSD School Board President Williams.

Shortly afterward, Williams went on a profanity-laced tirade on Facebook about gift baskets sent by a local company, the Herzog Corporation, to local schools’ teachers’ lounges.

“Disrespectfully, go f**k your mom and your dog,” Williams wrote in one of several profane sentences.

She also suggested that one commenter “go f**k yourself … at least 26 times.”

An email from Heartlander News to Williams asking whether the allegations that parents’ fees were transferred to her personal Venmo account were accurate and, if so, whether she reconciled the deposits with the nonprofit and had spoken to investigators went unanswered by publication time.