A St. Paul nonprofit leader pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal criminal charges in the Feeding Our Future case, becoming the 17th defendant to admit guilt in the sprawling fraud litigation.
Sharon Ross, 53, of Big Lake, Minn., former director of House of Refuge in St. Paul, was charged in March as one of the last of 60 people to be charged in the case so far. But her trial was scheduled for Jan. 22, making her the first defendant slated to go to court this month.
Under a plea agreement, Ross pleaded guilty to wire fraud, and additional charges were dismissed. She could face 37 to 46 months in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
The FBI in January 2022 raided Feeding Our Future, a St. Anthony nonprofit that oversaw hundreds of meal distribution sites. Prosecutors have said it was one of the largest pandemic-related fraud cases in the country, involving more than $250 million. As of March 2023, the federal government had seized more than $66 million in the case.
Ross enrolled House of Refuge in 2021 in the federal program that reimburses schools and nonprofits for providing meals to low-income kids after school and during the summer. House of Refuge received $2.4 million in reimbursements from 2021 to 2022 for reportedly serving 900,000 meals over a six-month period, according to prosecutors. But little of that money was spent on food and only a fraction of the meals were served, prosecutors said.
Instead, Ross submitted fraudulent invoices and attendance rosters with fake names of children, prosecutors said. She split the money with her food vendor and used most of it to cover expenses for herself and her family — taking trips to Florida and Las Vegas, renting a Timberwolves suite and buying a home in Willernie, near Mahtomedi.
Upon pleading guilty, Ross agreed to forfeit the Willernie home and pay $2 million in restitution to the federal government.
When asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson why she was pleading guilty, Ross said the evidence shows she's guilty. After the half-hour hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, Ross and her attorney Earl Gray declined to comment to reporters.