Prosecutors charged an Apple Valley woman Friday with defrauding the federal government in the sprawling Feeding Our Future case.
Dorothy Jean Moore, 57, is the 72nd person charged in the case; the first indictments were issued in 2022. Prosecutors say Moore used Jean’s Soul Food, a catering company run out of her apartment, to defraud the federal government of more than $1.4 million. She is charged with three counts each of wire fraud and money laundering.
Moore’s charges come a week after the U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted Hibo Daar, 50, of Eden Prairie; the two cases are the first new charges in the Feeding Our Future case in over a year.
Moore declined to comment on the charges Friday.
According to the indictment: Moore began participating in the federal child nutrition program in November 2020 under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. Moore enrolled two sites at metro churches and claimed that Jean’s Soul Food provided the food served there.
From February to June 2021, Moore allegedly claimed to serve more than 300,000 meals at a site in Burnsville and another 300,000 meals at a church in Minneapolis. She is accused of claiming to provide more than 1,500 meals a day, seven days a week.
But prosecutors allege that Jean’s Soul Food was a shell company that made little to no food, and that the money Moore received instead paid for a luxurious lifestyle, including two vehicles, travel and purchases from designer brands like Louis Vuitton.
The alleged fraud involved Feeding Our Future receiving federal funds through the Minnesota Department of Education that was meant to feed underprivileged children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding Our Future then distributed those funds to food vendors and food sites like Jean’s Soul Food, which were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals to local children.
Several organizations reported serving more meals than they actually did, or never served any at all, in order to receive more federal reimbursement dollars, according to prosecutors.
Moore made her initial appearance in Minneapolis Friday. She was escorted into her hearing by U.S. Marshals, but was released on a $25,000 bond. Moore told Magistrate Judge David Schultz that she intends to hire her own lawyer, and did not formally submit a plea in the case.
Prosecutors say defendants in the case stole at least $250 million from the federal government through Feeding Our Future and another organization in Minnesota, making it the largest pandemic fraud in the country. Aimee Bock, Feeding Our Future’s executive director, was convicted at trial in March and awaits sentencing.
To date, 45 defendants have been convicted or pleaded guilty in the Feeding Our Future case.
