A Ramsey County judge denied Feeding Our Future Executive Director Aimee Bock’s request to sanction the Minnesota Department of Education for allegedly destroying and concealing evidence in a lawsuit she filed against the department.
Bock, who led the St. Anthony nonprofit at the center of a massive FBI fraud investigation, alleged this year that Department of Education employees attempted to cover up information by using a burner phone and misspelling words in messages to each other. to avoid being caught in a 2020 lawsuit that Feeding Our Future filed against the agency.
In court papers, a Department of Education attorney called Bock’s allegations “pure theater.” District Judge Laura Nelson denied Bock’s motion on May 30.
Department of Education officials said in court papers that Feeding Our Future wanted to “mask” its fraud by distracting the agency with “sham” litigation in 2020. Department officials contacted the FBI in 2021 about their concerns, initiating a extensive investigation that led to federal investigations. criminal charges against 70 people, including Bock.
Bock denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty. His trial has not yet been scheduled.
In the separate civil case, the Department of Education sued Bock and his now-defunct nonprofit last year, seeking to recover legal fees from the 2020 litigation. Bock filed his own countersuits this year.
Bock, 43, of Apple Valley, is representing herself in the civil case. He alleged in court papers that Department of Education employees violated state law by deleting large amounts of data, mislabeling documents and intentionally misspelling words, such as “stoop pais” or “stop payes” instead of “stop pay,” or referring to Feeding Our Future. as “F” or using a keyword, “peanuts,” to hide documents from the 2020 case.
One employee mentioned using a burner phone while another used a personal email account, which Bock said was done to evade presenting evidence in the lawsuit. In court papers, he asked Nelson to sanction the department for a “systematic plan” to ensure “crucial evidence” that led to the 2020 lawsuit was not turned over.
The Department of Education “should not be allowed to hide its actions and then sue Bock for questioning its actions,” Bock wrote. “People need to have faith that our justice system will not tolerate such abuses.”
Deputy Attorney General Christopher Stafford wrote in court papers that Bock was making “inflammatory” allegations because the department had “diligently preserved” data as required in litigation.
He wrote that the department turned over 330,000 pages of documents and internal communications in 2021, including the documents Bock is highlighting now.
“She relies on half-truths and incomplete information in an attempt to garner headlines and circumvent the actual process of presenting and testing evidence before the Court,” Stafford wrote.
He said Bock misinterpreted “innocent communications” and took the conversations out of context. The phone she said was disposable was an inexpensive flip phone she gave to a department receptionist when she worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stafford said.
Before Nelson issued his order, Bock said in court papers that a decision in favor of the Department of Education would set a “dangerous precedent” that organizations can hide documents from being legally discovered.
In May, Nelson denied the Department of Education’s motions to dismiss other claims by Brock, including that the agency violated state law by failing to respond to all of his data requests. The Department of Education asked Nelson to reconsider, but she refused.
Nelson granted the department’s motion to dismiss Bock’s other claims, including defamation.
Feeding Our Future quickly grew to become one of the largest sponsors of USDA-funded feeding programs in Minnesota. The programs reimburse schools, nonprofits and daycares for feeding low-income children after school and during the summer. The growth raised suspicions from the Department of Education, which denied Feeding Our Future’s meal site applications and canceled some sites. Feeding Our Future filed a lawsuit in November 2020.
In 2021, the Department of Education suspended all payments to the nonprofit, but a judge said he saw no regulation that would allow them to be suspended. He threatened to hold the agency in contempt if it did not act quickly on the requests. The department resumed payments and two supervisors contacted the FBI.
“I have never seen payments of that magnitude before,” Emily Honer, the department’s nutrition program supervisor, testified in April in the first federal trial involving Feeding Our Future food sites.
The nonprofit agreed to dismiss the lawsuit in 2022, seven days after the FBI raided its offices and Bock’s home.
Republicans examined the Education Department’s oversight of meal programs in 2022 and held hearings on Capitol Hill during which they questioned officials and criticized them for not stopping alleged fraud sooner.
The Legislative Auditor’s Office is conducting a special review of the department’s oversight of Feeding Our Future. That report, initially scheduled for release last summer, will examine whether the Department of Education complied with federal standards for monitoring the nonprofit and what it could have done differently, if anything, to stop the alleged fraud. The report will be released next Thursday.
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