Failed Nassau County program still holding onto $170K of unaccounted-for taxpayer money

A failed program that Florida’s speaker of the House called a "waste of taxpayer money" has been allowed to keep $170,000 of unaccounted-for taxpayer dollars for months.

This spring, the Legislature cut funding to a psychological self-screening program called CELPHIE at Florida Psychological Associates in Nassau County.

The CEO of Florida Pyschological Associates is Dr. Catherine Drew, wife of Nassau County Tax Collector John Drew.

FPA was supposed to use the funding to screen thousands of students and inmates in Duval, Nassau and Clay counties for mental health issues by using CELPHIE software on tablets.

Records turned over the Florida Speaker of the House Richard Corcoran show FPA only used the CELPHIE program to screen about 7 percent of the public school students it was supposed to screen, and did not screen any inmates.

A spokesman for Corcoran confirms FPA has not returned a penny of the tax dollars it received.

A friend of John Drew, state Sen. Aaron Bean, helped get a $1 million appropriation for the program in 2016 by suggesting Florida State University include it in its budget.

That was after Bean failed to get funding for the program through the state Legislature.

FPA received about $590,000 of the appropriation before the state cut it off, demanding FPA's financial records.

Through a public records request, Action News Jax got a copy of those financial documents from Corcoran.

The documents show how about $420,000 was spent, but there was no information about the other $170,000 FPA received.

When Action News Jax asked FPA’s public relations spokesman John Daigle if there are plans to return any funding to the state, he said FPA and FSU are working on a dissolution of their contract. He said any further questions about that would need to be directed to the university.

FSU spokesman Doug Carlson confirmed that the university and FPA are working to end the contract, but would not comment on whether any unspent funds would be returned to the state.

Daigle would not set up an interview with Catherine Drew about where that $170,000 is now.

Action News Jax took the company's financial records to a forensic accountant, who said American Screener Company, the company listed in state records as having created CELPHIE, could be a shell company.

FPA paid nearly $150,000 of its grant to American Screener Co. to license the CELPHIE program.

American Screener Co. doesn't have a website.

The CELPHIE website lists FPA’s phone number as its own.

American Screener Co. is registered in Nevada. The only named officer on its registration document is Clyde Davis. The listed address is Davis' law firm in Fernandina Beach.

Davis’ multiple online biographies say nothing about experience in psychology or developing software.

Davis’ law firm -- Davis, Broussard, & Steger PLLC -- represents FPA.

In fact, the April letter to Corcoran accompanying FPA’s financial records was written by Davis’ firm.

Davis is also a former advisory board member for FPA.

A source familiar with the Drew family said Catherine Drew and Davis are related. Daigle did not deny the existence of family ties between Catherine Drew and Davis when Action News Jax questioned him about it.

Daigle said none of this constitutes a conflict of interest, which is why it was not reported to FSU.

Davis’ assistant told Action News Jax he did not have time to answer our questions on camera, over the phone or by email on Tuesday.

In an email to FSU, John Drew denied anyone working on the project "has any financial interest or ownership in CELPHIE."

That email contradicts a separate email sent by Catherine Drew's business partner, Dr. Laura Hume, in which said she and Catherine Drew are "the developers and owners" of CELPHIE.

If that is true, then why did Catherine Drew need to pay nearly $150,000 in taxpayer dollars to license a product she developed and owned?

Cox Media Group