The woman spent millions meant to feed low-income children on properties and gifts for family and loved ones.
Connie Bobo served as executive director of the New Heights Community Resource Center in Bridgeton, Missouri. The nonprofit helped provide meals for low-income families and received millions in taxpayer dollars to fulfill this mission.
However, a large sum of the money was never allocated to feeding the underprivileged youth. Instead, it allegedly went to Bobo’s shopping habit.
According to iHeart, Bobo swiped the money from her nonprofit after enrolling in two U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded programs. The funding is meant to reimburse organizations like New Heights for their meal allocations. The resource center gained around $11 million from the USDA.
Bobo allegedly used the hefty payday to live out her wildest dreams. She reportedly spent $4.3 million on a mansion for herself while misappropriating funds to secure her family’s other homes.
The prosecutor claimed she listed family and friends as members of the organization’s board in an attempt to validate her spending on them.
“[She bought] a mansion for herself, houses for her family and a bright yellow Mercedes for her boyfriend,” Assistant US Attorney Jonathan Clow told jurors at her fraud trial Tuesday, per STL Today. “As her lies were discovered, the defendant used forged documents to try and cover up her crimes.”
Source: Black Enterprise
