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Ex-Feeding our Future head countersues MN Education Department
Aimee Bock, whose criminal case is still pending, claims MDE lied to the FBI and used deceptive practices to prevent her from accessing public documents
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The woman at the center of the alleged $250 million “Feeding our Future” meal fraud scheme has fired back against the Minnesota Department of Education, alleging lies and a cover-up, in a counterclaim filed in civil court.
The document presents Aimee Bock’s side of the story for the first time since she was charged with wire fraud, federal programs bribery, and conspiracy.
In all, 70 people are charged in connection to the Feeding our Future case, in which federal prosecutors say the defendants stole $250 million that was meant to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic while they weren’t in school.
The Minnesota Department of Education was tasked with overseeing the meal program locally — sending reimbursement payments to non-profits like Feeding our Future which sponsored the individual meal sites.
Before federal agents raided Feeding our Future’s offices, MDE tried to stop Feeding our Future from sponsoring more sites, which led to the nonprofit suing MDE and convincing a judge to side with her.
After Feeding our Future executive director Aimee Bock and dozens of others were charged, MDE sued them back– alleging abuse of process — saying Feeding our Future’s lawsuit was intended to allow them to continue committing fraud.
- MDE ignored Bock’s concerns about potential fraud. Bock cites a couple of examples, including that she flagged the “House of Refuge” to MDE for requesting an excessive payment. House of Refuge’s leader Sharon Ross has since pleaded guilty.
- Bock claims MDE lied to the FBI, for example by telling them there was “no food” being served at Feeding our Future sites.
- Bock also claims MDE used burner phones, deleted and hid documents and used other tactics to prevent Feeding our Future from getting info from MDE for its lawsuit.
In a statement to KARE 11 News, Bock wrote in part:
“It is particularly concerning that some of the MDE people the federal agents are talking to are the same people we have evidence hiding and destroying evidence.”
Bock is now asking for a jury trial in the civil case — making a counterclaim against MDE alleging “intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress” and other claims.
An MDE spokesperson issued a statement: “Ms. Bock’s recent legal claims are simply the latest example of her abusing the court system to deflect attention from her own misconduct. Our attorneys have moved to dismiss her claims, and we feel confident the Attorney General’s Office will be successful.”
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The officer was chasing a suspect on U.S. 40 in August 2024 when he slammed into the driver’s side of a car, killing Barbara and Bennie Williams.
PLAINFIELD, Ind. — A report by Avon police says a Plainfield officer chasing a suspect was going 100 mph seconds before a crash that killed a couple from Clayton, Indiana, in August 2024.
According to the report, the officer slammed on the brakes 2.5 seconds before impact but still hit the driver’s side of the car going almost 60 miles an hour.
Barbara Williams, 78, and Bennie Joe Williams, 79, were killed in the crash at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Smith Road in Plainfield around 5:45 p.m. Aug. 30. According to the couple’s obituary, the Williamses leave behind four children, 17 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
The incident started on a report of a person down at a Long John Silver’s restaurant. Police said the suspect, later identified as 38-year-old Bryan Goodmon, of Fillmore, Indiana, was possibly impaired as he was sitting in a car at the restaurant.
When a Plainfield officer approached Goodmon, he drove away and nearly hit the officer with his car. The officer pursued the vehicle onto U.S. 40, resulting in a brief chase that ended in the crash with the uninvolved vehicle.
According to the police report, “emergency vehicles will outrun their sirens at approximately 55 mph, so it is likely that (the Williamses) did not hear (the officer’s) sirens.”
The report also says that as the Plainfield officer approached the intersection, the traffic light was red for him and the Williamses had a green arrow for their turn. Some intersections are equipped to change when they detect police sirens. That intersection did not have that equipment.
“Emergency vehicles must still drive with due regard even with lights and sirens activated,” the report says. “(The officer) was traveling at a high rate of speed and did not proceed with due regard through the intersection.”
The Avon officer investigating says that the Williamses likely didn’t see the Plainfield cruiser until they were already in the intersection.
On Sept. 4, Goodmon was charged with resisting law enforcement causing death. He was taken into custody 17 days after the crash.
He is being held in the Hendricks County Jail. His trial is scheduled for Nov. 26.
They came home to a flood in August and they’re on the hook for the repairs.
KATY, Texas — A Katy family found the bottom floor of their home flooded in August because of a defect in a household appliance. And they tell us they’re not the only ones dealing with this issue.
“I came home and was like ‘Has it been raining?’” said Katy homeowner Artemiz Freeman.
When Freeman opened the door, she found out the water wasn’t from a hurricane or any storm. It was actually pouring out from something you also might have in your home.
“I noticed the tank to our toilet had cracked,” Freeman said.
Freeman said she had no idea this could happen. She came forward because she wants to warn other homeowners.
Freeman told us a local plumber, William Edmondson with True North Plumbing, told her he’s visited several homes facing these cracks.
“The water just dumps out of the tank and the toilet tries to continue to refill the tank and if you don’t notice, it will flood your home,” Edmondson said.
The toilet is one of two Vortens models which were part of a 2019 class action settlement because of the ‘random cracking.’ The numbers of the models are #3412 and #3464.
Freeman said the deadline to apply for a piece of the settlement was about four years ago, which is long before her home flooded.
She now faces thousands of dollars in damages and repairs.
“They said we can help you if you go through our insurance and I was like, this is a week or two into it. I’m already getting my house fixed. I can’t just sit here and wait,” Freeman said.
We did reach out to Vortens, who said they couldn’t meet our deadline Thursday evening. If they do get back to us with a response, we’ll post it here.
Pundits say Minnesota’s governor has more to lose in matchup with Ohio Senator JD Vance.
MINNEAPOLIS — Heading into Tuesday night’s debate with Ohio Senator JD Vance, Governor Tim Walz faced the dual challenge of defending his own record in Minnesota, as well as standing up for the Biden-Harris Administration.
And, while America may be tuning in at 8 p.m. to see a political fist fight between J-D Vance and Tim Walz, but that wouldn’t be the best outcome for the two campaigns, according to Minnesota political analyst Steven Schier.
“If Vance and Walz are arguing about each other, they’re not really helping their campaigns. What Vance has to do is make Harris look bad, and what Walz has to do is make Trump look bad because that’s really the choice in voters’ minds.”
He noted the CBS News moderators won’t do any real-time factchecking, so the candidates will be tempted to factcheck each other. But Schier said it wouldn’t be the best use of their time on stage.
He expects Walz to go after Vance on the issue of abortion and women’s rights, and for Vance to dive into Walz’s history of misstatements, and the debunked conservative narrative about Walz’s retirement from the Minnesota National Guard in 2005.
“Vance will be trying to get Walz to get wound up, to be abrupt, to lose his composure, and therefore perhaps make a gaffe that is memorable,” Schier explained.
“I think the key challenge for Walz is to keep his composure because when challenged in debates, he can become, as Minnesotans say, a little snippy. And that won’t serve him well.”
Walz goes into the debate with a 14-point advantage over Vance in favorability ratings, which gives him more to lose in this matchup of vice presidential candidates, according to political analyst Rachael Dean Wilson of the German Marshall Fund of America.
“It actually makes the challenge a little harder for Walz because he’s coming in pretty popular,” Wilson told KARE.
“He has mass appeal with this ‘Coach Walz’ persona we saw during the convention. And this is 90 minutes. That’s a very long time when you’re up on that stage.”
Wilson cited polling after the Trump-Harris debate that showed independent voters want more specifics on policy.
“If this is going to be the last debate before voters go to the polls, that key group that’s actually quite small is going to be looking for a real road map. How are you going to help me? So, if you can get that across and land a few good punches, then I’d say you won the night.”
Both Wilson and Schier said this debate is more consequential than most debates between running mates because it’s likely the last unscripted head-to-head tussle in this election cycle.
“It really does look like this will be the last debate before election day,” Schier remarked.
“It may create some lasting impressions of the vice presidential candidate and the presidential tickets that could really make a difference on Election Day.”
Wilson said avoiding gaffes is far more critical in this debate than simply delivering a message.
“If you do not meet expectations, or there is a big fumble in this debate, that’s probably going to hurt you more than a really good debate will do you good.”
