Grand jury indicted ex-Idaho health official on felony misuse of funds. Prosecutor dropped the case.

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — Two days after a grand jury indicted a former Idaho state government employee on two felony counts of misuse of public funds, a local judge dismissed the case — after a request from the prosecutor. 

The case marked the first criminal charges — and a rare public update — to emerge from a yearslong investigation launched by Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador that probed how the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare doled out $72 million in federal child care grants in 2021 and 2022.  

The official who was criminally charged, Ericka Rupp, oversaw the grant program. In the indictment, filed in Canyon County District Court last week, the grand jury charged Rupp with two felony counts of misuse of public funds and securities, for allegedly illegally authorizing, appropriating or otherwise misusing more than $300 of the government’s money. 

Labrador’s special prosecutor, Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Boyd, told the Idaho Capital Sun that the amount of money allegedly misused was not specified in the indictment, but that it would’ve been an issue to determine during a potential trial. 

Boyd said he moved to drop the indictment based on feedback from jurors.  

“I, however, asked of them whether they felt the case was one worth pursuing in terms of resources,” Boyd wrote in a text message. “I truly wanted their opinion on this. They had spent several full days taking testimony. The majority of jurors felt my time was better spent focusing on the many other serious crimes they worked on.”

For each count, the penalties could have been up to 14 years imprisonment and up to $10,000 in fines, according to state laws cited in the indictment.

Rupp’s attorney, Scott McKay, declined to comment. 

In a Friday order, Third District Judge Thomas W. Whitney wrote he was dismissing the case upon the state’s request. The court hasn’t released records supporting the judge’s decision to dismiss the case. 

Pending permission from the court, Boyd said he hopes to release a report with more details in the coming days. 

Asked whether he’d pursue charges against Rupp, or other people linked to the investigation, Boyd said: “The report should conclude my investigation.”

The Idaho attorney general’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Department of Health and Welfare spokesperson Greg Stahl directed questions about the case to parties involved.

“(The Department of Health and Welfare) takes seriously its responsibility to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars and remains committed to transparency, accountability, and the appropriate use of public funds,” Stahl said in a statement.

Indictment releases key witness list — including several current government officials

In its first year, news about the investigation and controversies about the grants were public. Powerful lawmakers in the Legislature reported concerns to Labrador that the Department of Health and Welfare’s former director acknowledged that $14 million in funds went to organizations that served some children that weren’t school-aged, against the Legislature’s instructions. 

Labrador, a former Republican congressman, launched the investigation soon into his first term as the state’s top attorney. At first, Health and Welfare leadership refuted a critical state audit. But under new leadership, the audit’s findings spurred reform efforts at the agency. 

Labrador appointed Boyd as a special prosecutor in the investigation after an Idaho judge barred Labrador from pursuing civil subpoenas against public officials who worked for an agency that his office legally represents. 

Months into serving as special prosecutor, Boyd wrote in a civil court filing that he had probable cause that Rupp committed a crime. 

Since then, news about the investigation largely fizzled out as lawsuits challenging the civil subpoenas were resolved.

The indictment didn’t detail how the alleged crimes took place, or provide evidence. But it listed the names of six witnesses whose testimony the grand jury relied upon, including Lori Wolff, the governor’s budget chief who received a subpoena to testify to a special inquiry judge at least two years ago; April Renfro, the state’s head auditor who oversaw a critical audit into the state health agency’s grant handling; John Foster, an influential lobbyist who years ago requested government documents related to the grant program; Elizabeth Oppenheimer, the former head of the Idaho Association for the Education for Young Children; and Aubrie Hunt, who works for the Department of Health and Welfare. 

It is not immediately clear whether Boyd used a separate, secretive court process — called a special inquiry judge — that he said he wanted to use for the case. None of the case documents identify the judge as a special inquiry judge. Boyd said he wouldn’t “quite say” the case was pursued as a result of the special inquiry process. “It was a separate additional investigative process,” he said. 

The judge’s dismissal order references a court hearing that occurred Sept. 23. But the state’s official, public-facing court record system doesn’t have any records related to that hearing. Canyon County’s Deputy Trial Court Administrator Sharlene Davis told the Sun that her office doesn’t have more documents in the case.