When state officials showed up for a surprise inspection of the United for Our Youth Summer Enrichment Camp in Nashville in July, the space was empty.

Kids were away on a field trip, they were told.

When the same officials returned the next day, July 3, the doors were locked and the camp was deserted. Signs said the summer program was closed for the holidays and would not reopen for another five days.

Still, the camp's operator billed the state of Tennessee for hundreds of meals it said were served to low-income children at the camp on the days when no children, in fact, were present.

The operator, the nonprofit New Beginnings, billed the state $34,390 for breakfasts and lunches it said it served to children during the summer of 2019, including $2,426 for two days state inspectors showed up to find no children present.

The camp is one of four organizations that submitted questionable bills to the state's Department of Human Services for meals intended for children living in poverty, according to two audits released Monday by the Tennessee comptroller.

Representatives for New Beginnings, which was closed on Monday, could not be reached for comment. Brandon Williams is listed as the agency's director.

The other operators are:

• Greater Harvest Church in Nashville, which billed for $28,446 in meals during 2018 and 2019 that auditors are now calling into question.

• South Parkway East Kiddie Learning Center and Riverdale Kiddie Learning Center in Memphis, both run by the realty company Peyton.

Auditors concluded the two centers "likely submitted inaccurate and inflated meal reimbursement claims to DHS and thus DHS subsequently has overpaid the center for meals claimed and not served." In surprise, repeat visits auditors found far fewer children in attendance than were claimed by the organization, but the audit did not specify a total dollar amount for questioned billings.

Fraud, abuse found before

Monday's audits are the latest in a series done in a five-year period detailing rampant fraud and abuse in two federal food subsidy programs overseen by DHS.

The programs are intended to provide meals to 80,000 low-income Tennessee children during the school year and about 42,000 children each day during summer months. While many operators — typically nonprofit organizations, churches and after-school programs — have delivered on their promises to feed children, others have engaged in fraud, pocketing funds without providing meals to kids while escaping notice by DHS officials.

DHS' lax oversight of the $80 million food program has been highlighted by lawmakers, in multiple audits by the state comptroller and ongoing investigations by The Tennessean, all of which found unscrupulous state contractors pocketed millions of dollars intended for children in Tennessee, where 1 in 4 children are at risk for hunger.

The contractors "have displayed a clear pattern of not following the rules and for improper/questionable practices, but DHS allowed the sponsors to return to the program year after year and continue to claim high-dollar reimbursements," Monday's audit found.

"The people of Tennessee want children to be properly fed," Justin Wilson, the state's comptroller, said Monday.

"If you see continuing issues with the money going to the wrong places or not having adequate documentation, you have a reasonable question of whether or not the children are being fed," he said. "And that simply means that money is diverted to feeding children for other purposes."

Legislator call findings 'especially troubling'

The audit urged DHS to act.

"DHS has failed to establish robust controls for entities that exhibit fraud risks and other questionable billing patterns," the audit said. "DHS management must take prompt action in order to prevent and detect habitual rule-breaking sponsors from continuing to claim reimbursements for meals that they do not serve to children."

State Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, said it was "incumbent upon us, as legislators, to take the reins and provide necessary oversight of this department."

"Tennesseans deserve good government and expect us to get to the bottom of the reasons for these repeat findings," he said. "If my colleagues are half as frustrated as I am, I'm sure they'll agree that necessary and aggressive steps should be taken to right this ship in a timely manner.

Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, called it "especially troubling to see repeat findings related to needed aid not making its way to benefiting the intended recipients."

"The state is slated to receive and administer literally billions of dollars from Congress," Yarbro said. "Both the Lee administration and the legislature will need to be aggressive going forward to make sure the state is getting the help to where it's most needed."

A spokesman for DHS said agency officials had not yet had a chance to review the audits and could not provide comment on Monday.

Reach Anita Wadhwani at awadhwani@tennessean.com or 615-259-8092 and on Twitter @AnitaWadhwani