The owner of a nonprofit in St. Louis admitted to fraudulently acquiring over $2 million intended for feeding low-income Missouri children, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cymone McClellan, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
McClellan and Terra Davis, 43, submitted false meal reimbursement claims totaling $2.3 million to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services from January 2019 to June 2022 on behalf of their nonprofit, Sister of Lavender Rose (S.O.L.R.). Davis was McClellan’s second-in-command at S.O.L.R.
They claimed reimbursement for 860,876 meals allegedly provided to Missouri children; however, McClellan purchased enough food and milk for fewer than a quarter of those meals. Her plea agreement reveals that she submitted fake sign-in sheets and management plans to DHSS falsely claiming proper use of funds.
McClellan spent $60,000 on a house down payment in Collinsville, Illinois, $86,172 on another house in Florissant, Missouri, and nearly $135,000 on five vehicles including a Chevrolet Traverse and a Mercedes-Benz Metris van.
As part of her plea agreement, McClellan will forfeit the houses and vehicles. She is scheduled for sentencing on August 26 when she will be ordered to repay the remaining funds.
Davis previously pleaded guilty in December to the same charge and is set for sentencing on June 5.
The FBI and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General investigated this case with Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuting.
Anyone with information about pandemic fraud can contact the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report online via their complaint form.
