Feeding Our Future meal claims not possible: expert
Stacy Koppen took the stand in the federal Feeding Our Future meal fraud trial of Aimee Bock and Salim Said and told jurors about their own efforts to box up meals for St. Paul school kids during the pandemic. Koppen is St. Paul Schools Nutrition Director and described using the district’s entire fleet of more than 300 buses to get meals out to pick up locations. And, if anyone else was feeding massive numbers of kids in the St. Paul area, she testified, she would have known about it.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Stacy Koppen took the stand in the federal Feeding Our Future meal fraud trial of Aimee Bock and Salim Said and told jurors about their own efforts to box up meals for St. Paul school kids during the pandemic.
Koppen is St. Paul Schools Nutrition Director and described using the district’s entire fleet of more than 300 buses to get meals out to pick up locations. And, if anyone else was feeding massive numbers of kids in the St. Paul area, she testified, she would have known about it.
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“Was there any other provider handing out thousands of meal boxes to children per day? The answer is no,” Koppen said.
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‘It’s unrealistic’
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What we know:
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One of the meal sites that Salim Said operated under sponsorship of Feeding Our Future was at a deli in a strip mall on McKnight Road, which is technically in Maplewood, but referred to in court documents as a St. Paul location, based on its mailing address.
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Jurors have seen multiple meal count claims from that site that show just shy of 3000 breakfasts and lunches served seven days a week during 2020 and 2021. On Wednesday, jurors saw surveillance video from the FBI that showed little foot traffic in and out of that location.
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Koppen testified, based on their own operation, that the numbers were not possible, partly due to the space it would take to store the food required, and partly due to a small kitchen unable to prepare that many meals.
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While they overall provided more meals through SPPS, the most at a single location was a thousand meals per week, not thousands a day.
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“And even in a large space,” she said, “we would not be able to serve this many meals.”
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Trial expected to take three more weeks
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What’s next:
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The trial takes a long weekend, as the judge is using Fridays to attend to other cases on her docket. With Monday being a holiday, the trial resumes Tuesday morning.
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Expected on the stand are more witnesses who’ve taken plea deals for their roles in the fraud, who’ve stated as part of their pleas that they paid Aimee Bock kickbacks to stay under her sponsorship.
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As for whether Bock will take the stand to testify in her own defense later in the trial, her attorney said it is up to her and that decision has not been made.