ST. LOUIS – The owner of a nonprofit admitted to fraudulently obtaining over $2 million meant for feeding low-income Missouri children, both before and during the coronavirus pandemic.
Cymone McClellan, 32, from St. Louis, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She acknowledged that she and Terra Davis, 43, submitted $2.3 million worth of false meal reimbursement claims to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services from January 2019 to June 2022 on behalf of their nonprofit organization, Sister of Lavender Rose (S.O.L.R.). Davis was McClellan’s second-in-command at S.O.L.R.
The fraudulent claims were for a total of 860,876 meals supposedly provided to Missouri children. However, McClellan only purchased enough food and milk for less than a quarter of those meals according to her plea agreement.
McClellan presented bogus sign-in sheets falsely claiming attendance at food distribution locations and submitted management plans falsely asserting that state meal reimbursement funds were used solely for providing meals to low-income children. Additionally, she claimed all checks were signed by her finance director who was not authorized on S.O.L.R.’s account.
McClellan confessed to spending $60,000 intended for feeding children as a down payment on a house in Collinsville, Illinois. She also spent $86,172 on another house in Florissant, Missouri, and nearly $135,000 more on five vehicles: a 2021 Chevrolet Traverse, a 2012 Chevrolet Express G3500 van, a 2020 Mercedes-Benz Metris van, a 2012 Ford E350 box truck and a 2018 Lexus RX SUV.
As part of her plea agreement, McClellan has agreed to forfeit the vehicles and houses. Her sentencing is scheduled for August 26 when she will be ordered to repay the remaining funds.
Davis pleaded guilty in December to the same wire fraud conspiracy charge and is set for sentencing on June 5.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General with Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuting.
Anyone with information about pandemic-related fraud can contact the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report through their Web Complaint Form online.
