New York, NY —

Federal authorities have arrested three child welfare workers and two employees of a foster care agency. All are accused of scheming to defraud the Administration for Children's Services out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: The money was supposed to go towards helping adopted children with special needs. Instead Nigel Osarenkhoe, an ACS supervisor, allegedly steered nearly $80,000 to the fiscal director of a foster care agency who was posing as an adoptive parent.

According to prosecutors, another ACS official knowingly approved the payment of a fake invoice worth $375,000. Authorities say the money was used to purchase a BMW and a Range Rover, among other things.

Investigators say they came across the fraud after examining the case of a Florida woman who used fraudulent documents to adopt children in New York and then abused them. ACS says it's working to correct any problems with its financial controls. For WNYC, I'm Cindy Rodriguez.

HOST: Charges against the workers include mail fraud and embezzlement conspiracy.