(KNSI) — A Big Lake woman has pled guilty to her role in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case.
Federal prosecutors alleged that 53-year-old Sharon Ross claimed she had served 900,000 hungry kids through her nonprofit House of Refuge Twin Cities to get $2.4 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funding. Ross claimed House of Refuge operated distribution sites at a dozen locations throughout the Twin Cities that served food by a vendor called Brava Café, a restaurant in Minneapolis run by Hanna Marakegn. Instead, she used that money to buy a home, a suite for Minnesota Timberwolves games, pay off friends and family, and take trips to Las Vegas and Florida.
Ross pled guilty to one count of wire fraud. Her sentencing is set for a later date.
She is the 17th defendant in the massive scheme to plead guilty. U.S. Attorney Andy Luger says Ross and roughly five dozen others exploited a federally-funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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