Ohio Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.), introduced a new bill in the Ohio Statehouse that aims to tackle fraud, going on to say that a brave group of “citizen journalists” and viral social media videos have discovered fraud within the Buckeye State’s daycare system that the government has failed to uncover.
For reference, this move from Rep. Williams follows recent news coming out of the state of Minnesota, where a vast slew of daycare facilities have been found, primarily by citizen journalists, to be covers for fraudulent activity connected with the local Somali migrant community. Many fear the same sort of thing is happening in many other blue states, such as Washington, and could even be happening in red states like Ohio.
Williams, who is currently running for a seat in Congress, told reporters on January 15, 2026, “I don’t know how else to say it — that’s fraud. “I don’t want to see our citizen journalists making hostile environments, going in where children may be present, causing escalations. They obviously have been able to discover some things that were missed.”
Reporters from ABC6 asked Williams how he would describe the social media videos filmed by citizen journalists who targeted Somali-owned daycare businesses in the capital city of Columbus. A number of the clips show people going door-to-door to various daycare centers looking for children inside. The reporters asked Williams whether he considered the videos as allegations or evidence that proves fraud is occurring.
“That’s just an allegation of fraud,” Williams replied, according to the report. Several weeks later, while introducing the Childcare Fraud Prevention Act, Williams now says that these independent journalists are providing “proof of fraud.” The reporters followed up with the state congressman and asked him what changed his mind about the videos being mere allegations to proof of wrongdoing.
“What changed is the first portion of these citizen journalists, investigative journalists … they brought their allegations to the state of Ohio. You heard from the governor and (the Department of Children and Youth) that those tips led to enforcement actions. That’s proof of fraud,” he said.
If the new bill Williams introduced should be passed into law, it would require daycare centers to install cameras throughout their facilities and allow state inspectors to audit attendance in real time. Williams pointed out that out of the 124 tips from the public that the government received in 2025, 61 centers received overpayments and 12 were closed down. Despite the evidence, the Department of Children and Youth, along with the governor, are disputing claims the fraud is widespread.
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A spokesperson representing the DCY put out a statement saying, “The 124 tips referenced by Governor DeWine were received by DCY during calendar year 2025. And the $2M identified from the 61 overpayments was a combination of identified fraud and administrative errors/corrections. Not every overpayment identified was a result of perceived fraud.”
Not all Ohio Republican lawmakers were supportive of the videos being posted on social media, stating they could put federal funding in jeopardy. Rep. Tom Young (R-Dayton), slammed how the media is portraying the issue, while Rep. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) warned against “gaslighting” that could raise concerns among federal authorities.
“We can’t gaslight this, freak out the administration … the federal administration,” Plummer said to reporters on January 14. “They’d pull our funding. Then, we’d lose childcare centers.” Williams stated that he’ll also be introducing several anti-fraud measures in the statehouse over the course of the next few weeks. “I don’t believe it’s gaslighting that there were actual allegations being raised and they were proven,” Williams explained.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video