In September 2025, the Escambia Children’s Trust received New World Believers’ financial documents, which included its 2024 federal tax return. I have reported on how the “audit report” and the tax return (Form 990) don’t match, but there is even a more significant red flag considering Trust Executive Director Lindsey Cannon’s statement at the Trust board meeting last week.
Background: New World Believers (NWB) has a contract with the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) for a pre-arrest delinquency citation program for misdemeanor offenses. Inweekly requested the contract, and the document shows that NWB has had the contract since September 2017. See CN-800000-10559.
- Cannon told her board that she was aware of the civil citation, but then NWB executive director Rodney Jones said its services were handled off-site to avoid duplicative services. She said, “We have a letter from Mr. Jones at the time saying that those things were done remotely. However, that was not what DJJ was understanding when I was able to speak with them.”
But here’s the red flag: The Schedule B of NWB’s Form 990 shows the only income coming from the Escambia Children’s Trust. Nothing from DJJ. The Trust staff should have caught it, especially since the Trust board gave them an additional 30 days to review the documents and work out a grant budget for NWB’s third year.
- In December, the Trust board approved an additional $585,685 for NWB, based on the staff’s recommendation and after the program committee signed off.
Other Red Flags
1) Under Trust requirements, financial reports must be audited by an independent certified public accountant or reviewed in a manner consistent with AICPA Standards for Government/Non-Profit organizations. They were not.
2) A simple math check would have revealed that the numbers didn’t add up on the balance sheet.
3) NWB’s corporate filing lists Radajeline Jones as a board member while she works as an aftercare coordinator. Board members are prohibited from directly or indirectly receiving Trust funds.
4) Six members of the Jones family were employed by NWB and receiving Trust dollars, a violation of the Trust’s anti-nepotism policy.
Double Billing
When Cannon spoke directly with DJJ’s contract manager in Tallahassee, the agency described expectations that included mental health counseling, behavioral support and mentoring—the same services for which NWB was billing the Trust.
Cannon noted she had only received the 400-plus pages of DJJ records the previous Friday, so her review was still in its early stages. Her preliminary review showed a multi-month billing overlap, potentially spanning October 2023 through January 2026.
- Why this matters: According to the contract schedule presented to the Trust board last week, NWB had drawn down $866,222 for its H.O.O.P.S. program and submitted reimbursement requests for an additional $94,000 to cover November and December 2025.
It Took An Arrest
The only reason Cannon contacted DJJ at all is that Jones was arrested in January on a charge of sexual battery of a 16-to-17-year-old participant in the H.O.O.P.S. program.
- The alleged victim had enrolled as part of her DJJ civil citation probation. According to the arrest report, Jones used his authority in the program—controlling community service hours and probation sign-offs—to coerce the teen into sexual acts over roughly a year. Read ChargeReport_Redacted Rodney Jones
After the arrest, the Trust voted to cancel its grant agreement with NWB. But the relationship should have ended months earlier.
The pattern of oversight failures surrounding NWB points to deeper operational problems at the Trust. With a referendum on the Trust’s renewal approaching, the public deserves a full operational review of all Trust grants.
