Sharon Ross pleads guilty to wire fraud in connection with Feeding Our Future case
BIG LAKE, Minn. — Another person has pleaded guilty in connection with the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sharon Ross, 53, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud Wednesday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota.
Ross was the executive director of the St. Paul nonprofit House of Refuge Twin Cities, which received funds through the Federal Child Nutrition Program.
"Between September 2021 through February 2022, Ross falsely claimed to be serving thousands of children each day at her House of Refuge sites," the attorney's office said. "In total, Ross fraudulently claimed to have served nearly 900,000 meals and received approximately $2.4 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds."
The attorney's office said Ross gave the money to family members, used it for vacations, bought a house in the east metro and purchased a suite at a Timberwolves game.
Ross is the 17th person to plead guilty in connection with the Feeding Our Future fraud. Her sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
Feeding Our Future background
Feeding Our Future was formed in 2016 to help poor and minority communities secure federal food program funding. The nonprofit quickly became the largest independent sponsor of such programs in Minnesota.
Court documents say the Department of Education grew concerned about the rapid growth in reimbursements and the number of sites sponsored by Feeding Our Future. The department said it reached out to the USDA in the summer of 2020 and began scrutinizing the nonprofit's site applications. In one case, the agency denied an application for a group that claimed in March 2021 it was serving an after-school snack and supper to 5,000 kids a day; the FBI characterized this as "an exceedingly large number of children."
The Department of Education went to the FBI in April 2021, and the FBI began investigating the following month.
After the Department of Education increased its scrutiny, Feeding Our Future sued the agency in November 2020. Feeding Our Future alleged discrimination, among other things, saying many of the groups it works with are in minority communities.
By December 2020, the Department of Education stopped approving new site applications for Feeding Our Future.
In September 2022, Luger's office announced nearly 50 people had been indicted in connection with Feeding Our Future. Prosecutors said just a fraction of the money went toward feeding kids, with the rest laundered through shell companies and spent on property, luxury cars and travel.
"Their goal was to make as much money for themselves as they could while falsely claiming to feed children during the pandemic," Luger said. "As alleged in these indictments, over a short period of time, these 47 defendants engaged in a brazen scheme of staggering proportions."
Since the initial wave of charges, more have been indicted.
