A defendant in the Feeding Our Future fraud case who was scheduled to go to trial later this month instead pleaded guilty to her crimes Wednesday.
Sharon Ross, the executive director of the St. Paul food shelf House of Refuge, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of wire fraud. She previously pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering.
Ross and federal prosecutors agreed to sentencing guidelines of between three and four years in prison and $2.4 million in restitution.
Ross, 53, is the 17th defendant to plead guilty in the case. Wearing a dark sweater and wide framed glasses, she spoke with a firm voice as she admitted wrongdoing in court Wednesday afternoon.
“Why are you pleading guilty?” U.S. Assistant Attorney Joe Thompson asked her during her plea.
“Because the evidence shows that I’m guilty, so I’m guilty,” Ross said.
The only time Ross showed emotion came next, when Thompson asked her whether she had any doubts in her decision to plead guilty.
“No,” Ross responded, her voice cracking slightly.
Ross and her attorneys Earl Gray and Amanda Montgomery declined to comment to reporters after the plea hearing.
House of Refuge operated multiple food sites under the federal Child Nutrition Program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ross admitted to sending the government inflated meal counts, fake child attendance records, fake invoices, and receiving $2.4 million in federal dollars. She admitted to using the money on vacations to Las Vegas, vacations to Florida, a suite at a Minnesota Timberwolves game, and spending $100,000 of the money to buy a home in Willernie, Minnesota. Ross also admitted to giving the money to Hanna Marakegn, her business partner in the scheme, and her own family members.
Ross agreed to forfeit the Willernie home as part of her restitution.
Ross’ indictment also states that she spent $21,000 of the federal money on a car and $17,000 on credit card and loan payments.
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger has called the case, which has come to be known as the Feeding Our Future scandal, the largest coordinated COVID-19 fraud scheme in the nation, and estimated the total fraud to exceed $250 million.
The alleged fraud involved sponsor organizations like Feeding Our Future receiving federal funds through the Minnesota Department of Education. The sponsor organizations then distributed those funds to food vendors and food sites like House of Refuge, which were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals to local children.
Several organizations in the money chain reported serving thousands more meals than they actually did—or simply never served any meal at all—in order to receive more federal reimbursement dollars, according to prosecutors. Those funds were then passed through various shell companies before allegedly being pocketed by the perpetrators, who used the money to buy cars, property, and other items.
related sTORIES
Federal prosecutors have charged 60 defendants in the case since September 2022 and have said they expect to charge more people down the line.
Ross was set to be the first defendant to go to trial in the case. Her trial was initially scheduled to begin on January 22. Two group trials for nearly two dozen defendants are expected to start later this year, possibly in the spring and summer.
According to the indictment against Ross, she used “Sponsor A” to receive $2.4 million from the federal food-aid program.
Documents from a lawsuit, search warrant affidavits, and a federal complaint filed in May 2022 show that the indictments’ information about “Sponsor A” correlates with Partners in Quality Care, a St. Paul-based sponsor organization similar to Feeding Our Future. Additionally, a previous charge and search warrant affidavits in the fraud investigation directly named Partners in Quality Care as an organization that food sites allegedly used to fraudulently obtain federal food-aid money. No one who worked for Partners in Quality Care has been charged in the case.
Ross also used Feeding Our Future as a sponsor, according to court documents.
Federal prosecutors charged Ross in the case last March. One of her key business partners pleaded guilty to their role in the fraud five months earlier.
Hanna Marakegn operated the Minneapolis restaurant Brava Cafe, which worked with Ross to prepare meals for House of Refuge under the federal food-aid program. Ross’ indictment states that Ross claimed that Marakegn and Brava Cafe prepared tens of thousands of meals that the restaurant never made.
In one two-week period, House of Refuge reported providing children more than 10,000 meals, all prepared by Brava Cafe. But in reality, according to prosecutors, House of Refuge only provided a tiny fraction of those meals, and none were prepared by Brava Cafe.
Ross’ charges also allege she paid Marakegn more than $640,000 between November 2021 and February 2022. But Marakegn and Brava Cafe didn’t provide House of Refuge with any meals during that time, according to the charges.
Marakegn pleaded guilty in October 2022 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She admitted receiving $7.1 million in federal food-aid dollars and fraudulently claiming to serve more than 2 million meals between September 2020 and January 2022.
“I made a mistake,” Marakegn told prosecutors while fighting back tears during her plea hearing.
It’s unclear whether House of Refuge is currently still in operation. The Secretary of State lists an active business license for the organization with Sharon Ross as president, but its website was inactive and its listed phone number was disconnected as of Wednesday.
House of Refuge’s Facebook page shows some recent activity, including the promotion of a free turkey drive last Thanksgiving and a Toys for Tots drive two months ago.
