Latasha Jackson: Fire Destroys Mansion

Latasha Jackson's Menomonee Falls home, a mansion she was trying to sell for $1,499,900, went up in flames this morning.

That ticks me off. Our tax dollars paid for that home. It's a shame to see it gutted by fire.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

An early morning blaze destroyed the Menomonee Falls mansion owned by Latasha Jackson, a child-care provider under criminal investigation after receiving millions of dollars from the taxpayer-financed Wisconsin Shares program.

Fire officials said the call came in at 5:17 Sunday morning. No one was at the home, located on Goetz Court, at the time of the blaze, and no firefighters were reported injured. An agent from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was called in to assist the investigation.

Jackson, 32, was the subject of a Journal Sentinel story that outlined how she reaped nearly $3 million from the Wisconsin Shares program - and bought a Jaguar convertible and built the 7,600-square-foot house with an indoor swimming pool and indoor basketball court - while, for 10 years, regulators ignored red flags indicating she was scamming the system. The story sparked a wave of taxpayer outrage and led to a sweeping crackdown on sketchy child-care providers. Within weeks, state regulators cut public funding to about 130 child-care providers suspected of cheating the program.

Menomonee Falls Fire Chief Jeff Hevey said Jackson, who also goes by her married name, Latasha Wilder, was out of town and that he spoke to her Sunday morning.

"I spoke to them on the phone and let them know their house was a total loss," Hevey said. "They were devastated by the news."

Devastated?

I find that hard to believe.