Knoxville Woman Pleads Guilty In Food Program Fraud

Tammy Young, 47, of Knoxville, Tennessee, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for her role with All About Giving, Inc., a sponsor organization in the United States Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), announced Jack Smith, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

The Child and Adult Care Food Program is intended to reimburse child care providers for meals served to low-income children and other qualifying individuals. The program is funded by the USDA and administered in Tennessee by the Tennessee Department of Human Services. Program sponsor organizations are responsible for enlisting child care providers into the program, communicating the total amount of reimbursement funds the providers were entitled to receive each month to the Tennessee Department of Human Services and distributing reimbursement funds to providers.

According to the plea agreement and documents filed with the Court, Young’s cousin and co-conspirator, LaShane Hayes, started All About Giving, Inc. in 2014. Thereafter, between March 2015 and July 2016, Hayes made fraudulent reimbursement requests to the Tennessee Department of Human Services which caused the State of Tennessee to deposit more money into All About Giving’s bank accounts than it was entitled to receive. Hayes and her co-conspirators, including Young, defrauded CACFP of more than $1.5 million during this period.

Young and other co-conspirators participated in the fraud by falsifying documents to support the fraudulent reimbursement requests. These included provider records, which overstated the number of meals served to children and listed fictitious children’s names and provider lists, which included individuals who were not providing any child care. Furthermore, Young enrolled individuals in the Knoxville area as All About Giving childcare providers who she knew were not providing childcare or serving meals to children. Young also traveled from Knoxville to Nashville on numerous occasions to pick up checks from All About Giving and distribute them to alleged providers in and around Knoxville. During the course of the conspiracy, Young received over $54,000 from All About Giving.

Young faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger on August 30, 2017. Her sentence will be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and applicable federal statutes.

LaShane Hayes pleaded guilty in January 2017 to conspiracy and wire fraud and on April 12, 2017, she was sentenced to three months in prison and three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger.

This case was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis.