Aimee Bock, the convicted mastermind of Feeding Our Future, was sentenced to 41 years in federal prison on Thursday, marking the longest and most severe punishment to date out of all 78 defendants indicted in the free meal delivery fraud case.The 45-year-old executive director of Feeding Our Future faced a statutory maximum sentence of 100 years behind bars. Prosecutors recommended a 50-year prison sentence, while Bock’s defense team requested either time served or no more than 37 months, an equivalent of three years incarcerated, accompanied by mental health treatment and vocational training.Judge Nancy Brasel, an appointee of President Donald Trump, scolded Bock as she handed down her sentence at Thursday’s highly anticipated hearing.
Mugshot of Bock. (Sherburne County Jail)
Bock ran the Minnesota nonprofit organization known as Feeding Our Future, which approved millions of dollars in fraudulent reimbursement claims for the cost of meals supposedly served.
The pandemic-era billing scheme, which involved dozens of sham catering companies across Minnesota, stole approximately $250 million in child nutrition funds from a federal food assistance program meant to feed disadvantaged children during the COVID-19 crisis. Many of the food distribution sites that Feeding Our Future, which served as their organizational sponsor in exchange for a cut of the proceeds, had recruited into its reimbursement network never actually fed any children.
