In child-meal fraud, LR man given 2½ years

$660,428 restitution ordered

A 26-year-old Little Rock man who in January admitted being part of a scheme to steal federal funds meant for providing food for poor children was sentenced Friday to 2½ years in prison.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller also ordered Michael Lee to repay $660,428.07 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provided the state-administered funds through its Child and Adult Care Feeding Program.

Lee pleaded guilty Jan. 4 to 20 counts of wire fraud, admitting that between March 2012 and May 2014, he fraudulently sought reimbursement for feeding hundreds of children in Arkadelphia and Little Rock.

While up to 20 children had been seen eating at one time at the Arkadelphia site, he received reimbursement for providing meals for between 115 and 450 children at a time there.

At a Little Rock site he later operated, he was reimbursed for serving 76 to 350 children at a time, when no children were ever seen at the location, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris told Miller.

Lee was a state-approved sponsor of a government program that provided after-school snacks and summer meals for low-income children. However, it turned out he was one of several people approved as sponsors by two Arkansas Department of Human Services employees who administered the program and who later pleaded guilty to participating in a fraud conspiracy.

Standing before Miller on Friday alongside defense attorney Stuart Vess, Lee apologized for participating in the scam and said, “I just hope I will never be here again.”

Federal sentencing guidelines, taking into account Lee’s prior conviction for possession of a controlled substance and the fact that he picked up the fraud charge while on probation for the earlier charge, recommended 30 to 37 months in prison.

Harris urged Miller to sentence Lee in the “midto high range,” based on his participation for more than two years and the steps he had to take to carry out the fraud, including forming a corporation, opening a bank account and renting locations for feeding sites.

Vess sought a sentence at the low end of the range, saying, “My client got caught up in a situation that happened to a lot of people.”

Miller cited Lee’s lack of a substantial criminal history in imposing a sentence of 30 months, or 2½ years.

Of 14 people charged in nine indictments related to the scheme since December 2014, two were convicted in a jury trial in April and await sentencing; five pleaded guilty and have been sentenced; and seven others who pleaded guilty before trial also await sentencing.

Authorities have reported uncovering more than $11 million in the fraud related to the Arkansas feeding programs.