Minnesota child-meal scammer sentenced to 40 years in prison

The former leader of Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future was sentenced to more than 41 years in federal prison on Thursday for defrauding the federal government. Aimee Bock, age 45, was convicted of conspiracy, fraud, and bribery in a $250 million case, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Bock was also ordered to pay roughly $243 million in restitution. She and coconspirators opened more than 250 fake distribution sites pretending to provide food service to vulnerable children and adults. They fabricated lists of thousands of people served to receive federal reimbursement, the department said.

Bock’s sentencing came the same day that the Justice Department unveiled criminal charges against 15 other Minnesota and Pennsylvania residents for allegedly carrying out various fraud schemes totaling more than $90 million in actual or intended losses. The schemes included several types of Medicaid fraud, along with fraudulent childcare centers. The defendants provided substandard care for children and abandoned one Medicaid recipient while the person died, said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. The 15 accused people are presumed legally innocent until proven guilty in court.

The Department of Justice also said it would set aside funding to hire 15 new trial attorneys to litigate healthcare and Medicaid fraud across the United States.

What types of fraud schemes did prosecutors say were uncovered?

• Autism fraud: The DOJ alleges that two individuals participated in a roughly $46.6 million scheme to defraud a program for autistic children and young people that is funded by Minnesota’s Medicaid. The indicted individuals are accused of paying kickbacks to parents who brought their children to autism centers, falsely diagnosing children with autism, and billing for services they didn’t provide.

• Community Supports fraud: The DOJ charged one person for a scheme to bill Minnesota’s Medicaid for $1.4 million in services to elderly and disabled people that weren’t provided. The Integrated Community Supports program provides funding for daily help with household and health tasks.

• Home Supports fraud: Two more people are accused of taking advantage of a program designed to help disabled adults live independently and own homes. They allegedly bought more than 20 residences, hiding their ownership from Medicaid, then offered housing to people covered by the program to get their Medicaid information. The accused then allegedly used that information to bill Medicaid for about $22 million in services that weren’t provided, according to the DOJ.

• Housing Stabilization Services fraud: Eight people, including several Pennsylvania residents who allegedly traveled to Minnesota to commit fraud, face charges of stealing about $15.7 million through false use of a state housing program. The program was meant to serve the disabled, elderly, or mentally ill people, but it had few requirements or records, making it highly susceptible to fraud. Minnesota shut it down in October 2025, according to the DOJ.

• Childcare fraud: The department accused two people of stealing a collective $5 million from separate childcare programs, one federally-funded and one state-funded.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ report on a New Jersey man’s admission to embezzling more than a million dollars from a church.