PHOENIX — more than $100,000 from Arizona's loosely regulated education voucher program is going behind bars.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark H. Brain sentenced Johnny Bowers to 2.5 years in prison, while his wife, Ashley Hopkins, will spend 14 days in Maricopa County Jail later this year.

The two also must repay the money they stole.

Records show the two hatched a scheme to begin stealing from Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Account in December 2022.

That's a few months after then-Gov. Doug Ducey and the Republican-controlled Legislature expanded the program to give thousands of dollars a year to families to educate their kids at home or in private school.

Despite living in Colorado, the couple was able to register several of their own eight children in the program. They

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