Milwaukee's Black babies are still dying at very high rate and big spending isn't helping and arrests in homicides of six

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·4 min read
Theodore Edgecomb testifies at his homicide trial, showing how he said he told immigration lawyer Jason Cleereman to stop advancing toward him. A jury found him guilty of reckless homicide in the road rage shooting that killed Cleereman.

Black babies in Milwaukee are dying at a staggering rate. Taxpayers are spending millions on the problem. But signs of fraud are surging.

  • Wisconsin continues to have one of the nation's worst records for Black infant mortality, a troubling rate that has shown little improvement over the years despite the rapid growth of the prenatal care industry. Created to combat Wisconsin's dire problem of babies dying before their first birthday, a growing group of for-profit and nonprofit companies collected more than $22 million last year alone.

  • A review of thousands of pages of documents and interviews with dozens of people, including regulators, clients, social services experts and those who own or work for prenatal care coordination companies, uncovered financial mismanagement and revealed an industry raking in millions with little government oversight. Indications of fraud included fictitious billings, forgeries and coordinators claiming to be in two places at once, the Journal Sentinel investigation found.

  • Some Milwaukee-area prenatal care coordination companies, commonly known as PNCCs, are billing Medicaid between $1,000 and $5,000 per client. That’s compared with the Milwaukee Health Department, for example, which bills an average of $541 per prenatal care client, according to a confidential Department of Health Services memo obtained by the Journal Sentinel. The memo called the price differences “suspicious disparities.”

  • The industry’s meteoric growth in Wisconsin has created instant fortunes. One PNCC owner brought in more than $2.2 million in revenue last year with nearly half going toward her salary. Several company owners could be seen showing off on Facebook, posting pictures of flashy vacations, pricey handbags and Gucci clothing. No experience is necessary to open a prenatal care business and collect taxpayer money.

People of interest in custody in connection with homicides of 6 people inside a duplex at North 21st and Wright streets

  • Those in custody are not suspected of being the shooters at this time, but are believed to have information related to the investigation, the sources said. They stressed the investigation is ongoing.

  • The department has said the victims died by gunfire and that the deaths are being investigated as homicides. The two law enforcement sources confirmed to the Journal Sentinel that the victims had been shot execution-style.

Jury finds Theodore Edgecomb guilty of first-degree reckless homicide in road rage shooting that killed lawyer Jason Cleereman in Milwaukee

  • The verdict came about 30 minutes after the jury asked to rewatch a police surveillance video of the shooting on the Holton Street bridge, something jurors had already seen many times during trial.

  • Edgecomb faces up to 40 years in prison at his sentencing in April. The charge he was found guilty of was a lesser-included offense under the primary charge, first-degree intentional homicide, which carries a mandatory life in prison sentence upon conviction.

  • Edgecomb's lawyers said he acted in self-defense but during his testimony Tuesday he surprised the courtroom by saying repeatedly he didn't mean to fire his gun at Cleereman, that the weapon "just went off" as the immigration lawyer angrily approached him and threatened to kill him. Defendants raising self-defense normally say they intended to shoot because they feared imminent death or bodily harm from an assailant.

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The Money

ENERGY: If you get a higher energy bill this month, you may attribute it to the lower temperatures outside, but that's not the only reason. Brendan Conway, a We Energies spokesperson, said the increased cost is due to natural gas prices, which have risen significantly across the country.

HARLEY: Harley-Davidson on Wednesday unveiled eight new bikes as part of its 2022 model-year lineup, each one having the company's most powerful factory-stock engine, the Milwaukee Eight 117.

The Fun Stuff

WEEKEND: Three things you probably should be doing in Milwaukee this weekend, including the Mitchell Park Domes' reopening with its annual train show.

"MEAN GIRLS": High-energy 'Mean Girls' swaggers into the Marcus Center with a cautionary tale.

The Games

BUCKS: Streaking Cleveland scraps and hustles to big win over Milwaukee.

MU: #22 Marquette wins its 7th straight, 73-63 over Seton Hall. Justin Lewis with a college-high 33 points. Going to be a fun February and March in college hoops around here.

PACKERS: Pete Dougherty says it's easy to see why Aaron Rodgers could stay in Green Bay.

Around Wisconsin

BRILLION: Ariens is building a skiing and shooting center in Brillion to inspire the next generation of Wisconsin Olympians.

GREEN BAY: A public market, inspired by the Milwaukee Public Market in the Third Ward, in coming to Green Bay in the Old Fort Square building.

Today's Weather

Relative warmth with a high of 28 and a chance of snow showers, but back to a low of 4 overnight.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Fraud in prenatal care industry and arrests in homicides of six