Willernie woman latest to be sentenced in $250 million Feeding our Future fraud
A Willernie woman has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for her role in the $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick announced on Friday.
Sharon Denise Ross, 54, was sentenced to 43 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $2,434,360, according to acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
She also was ordered to forfeit all property purchased from her fraud proceeds, including her house in Willernie.
She is the 17th defendant to plead guilty to federal charges relating to the fraud scheme since the FBI raided Feeding Our Future's St. Anthony offices early in 2022. Other charges against Ross were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Ross was one of 60 Minnesotans charged with defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture's child nutrition programs during the pandemic, when regulations temporarily were loosened and a variety of businesses and nonprofits were allowed to help feed hungry kids while schools were closed. Federal prosecutors have called the the scheme the nation's largest coronavirus pandemic fraud, amounting to more than $250 million.
On March 7, 2024, Ross was charged with 12 counts of wire fraud and money laundering for her part in the scheme defrauding the Federal Child Nutrition Program. On Jan. 10, she pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Court documents show she was the executive director of House of Refuge Twin Cities, a St. Paul-based nonprofit which she enrolled in the federal program.
From September 2021 to February 2022, she claimed to be serving thousands of children each day at her nonprofit sites, saying she served nearly 900,000 meals. As a result of her fraudulent claim, she received $2.4 million in federal funds. She gave out hundreds of thousands of dollars to family members and used the rest of the money to 'fund her lifestyle, including to pay for vacations to Florida and Las Vegas, to purchase a suite at a Minnesota Timberwolves game, and to purchase her house in Willernie,' the U.S. Attorney's office said.
Court documents say at the time she was also on probation for another fraud.
Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of the alleged ringleader of the scheme. Aimee Bock, the founder of Feeding our Future, is one of 70 defendants charged in the overall case. Thirty of them have pleaded guilty to various charges. One defendant recently was sentenced to 17 1/2 years, the longest prison term handed down in the case so far.
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