ST. LOUIS – The owner of a St. Louis nonprofit appeared in federal court Tuesday and admitted defrauding the Missouri government of millions of dollars that were intended to be used to feed low-income Missouri children before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Cymone McClellan, 32, owned and operated the nonprofit Sister of Lavender Rose (SOLR). From January 2019 to June 2022, McClellan filed phony reimbursement claims to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) as part of the Food and Nutrition Programs for Children.

McClellan served 860,876 meals to children but only bought enough food and milk to feed fewer than a quarter of those meals. As a result, she defrauded the state out of approximately $2.3 million.

McClellan admitted providing fake sign-in sheets for meal recipients and food distribution locations and submitted fraudulent management plans claiming the Missouri funds were being spent properly.

Prosecutors said McClellan used $60,000 in state money to make a down payment on a home in Collinsville, Illinois. She spent another $86,172 on a home in Florissant, Missouri. She used nearly $135,000 to buy five vehicles: a 2021 Chevrolet Traverse, a 2012 Chevrolet Express G3500 van, a 2020 Mercedes-Benz Metris van, a 2012 Ford E350 box truck, and a 2018 Lexus RX SUV.

McClellan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As part of her plea, McClellan agreed to forfeit the vehicles and houses she purchased with her ill-gotten gains. She’ll be sentenced on Aug. 26 and will also be ordered to repay the rest of the money she stole.