ST. LOUIS — The founder of a local nonprofit admitted Tuesday to buying homes and luxury cars with money meant to be spent on providing meals for needy children.
Cymone McClellan, 32, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy for lying on applications to receive more than $2 million on behalf of her nonprofit, Sister of Lavender Rose.
Her attorney, Talmage Newton IV, said in a statement that despite the federal charges, the nonprofit provided many benefits to the community.
“Cymone acknowledges her obligation to have been a better steward of the organization and the public dollars it took care of,†he said. “Today was the first step in Cymone taking responsibility for her role in the organization’s failures.â€
The Sister of Lavender Rose controversy began in 2022 when federal and state authorities flagged the nonprofit for claiming thousands in reimbursements for meals that were never provided.
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Authorities found that over the course of about three years, McClellan had claimed almost $3.5 million under the U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded child nutrition programs. But when state inspectors went to visit the nonprofit’s listed food preparation site, they found themselves outside of Elmo’s Love Lounge, a University City bar.
Elmo's Love Lounge is the University City nightclub Missouri inspectors found when they showed up to inspect a food preparation company that a nonprofit enrolled in a federal meals program said it was using.Â
In all, federal prosecutors said at least $2 million of that money shouldn’t have been paid to McClellan.
With the money, she bought a 2020 Mercedes Benz cargo van, a 2021 Chevrolet Traverse a 2018 Lexus RX, plus homes in Florissant and Collinsville, according to court records.
She also lied on reimbursement applications, hiding that she used the food cash on several large purchases, including a $60,000 down payment on a house, federal prosecutors said. And she pretended the nonprofit’s finance director was signing off on purchases.
In exchange for McClellan’s guilty plea, federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss six fraud-related charges. She is facing an estimated 33 to 41 months in prison.
McClellan’s co-defendant and fellow Sister of Lavender Rose executive, Terra Davis, previously pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy and is set to be sentenced next month.
McClellan is set to be sentenced in August.
Storms rocked the St. Louis area with a tornado damaging neighborhoods from Clayton to north St. Louis. View photos from the Post-Dispatch photographers during the week here. Video by Jenna Jones.
