October 23, 2025
The woman spent millions meant to feed low-income children on properties and gifts for family and loved ones.
A nonprofit boss in Missouri heads to trial over accusations that she stole $10 million in funding to serve her own luxurious needs.
Connie Bobo served as executive director of the New Heights Community Resource Center in Bridgeton, Missouri. The nonprofit helped provide meals for low-income families and received millions in taxpayer dollars to fulfill this mission.
However, a large sum of the money was never allocated to feeding the underprivileged youth. Instead, it allegedly went to Bobo’s shopping habit.
According to iHeart, Bobo swiped the money from her nonprofit after enrolling in two U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded programs. The funding is meant to reimburse organizations like New Heights for their meal allocations. The resource center gained around $11 million from the USDA.
Of that number, prosecutors claim Bobo used $10 million on herself, as detailed in the October 2023 indictment. The prosecutor also alleges that the 46-year-old falsified reports that they served over 3 million meals from February 2019 to March 2022. Bobo currently faces charges of three counts of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and obstruction for allegedly falsifying food vendor invoices. A grand jury subpoenaed the evidence.
Bobo allegedly used the hefty payday to live out her wildest dreams. She reportedly spent $4.3 million on a mansion for herself while misappropriating funds to secure her family’s other homes.
She allegedly spent another $2.2 million on a commercial real estate investment. Bobo also allegedly made sure her significant other cashed in on the scam. She gifted her boyfriend $1.4 million, some of which was used to buy a Mercedes-Benz G550 Wagon. The luxury vehicle cost $212,000, according to the indictment against Bobo. According to the New York Post, the thieving boss bought seven properties in total.
The prosecutor claimed she listed family and friends as members of the organization’s board in an attempt to validate her spending on them.
“[She bought] a mansion for herself, houses for her family and a bright yellow Mercedes for her boyfriend,” Assistant US Attorney Jonathan Clow told jurors at her fraud trial Tuesday, per STL Today. “As her lies were discovered, the defendant used forged documents to try and cover up her crimes.”
Bobo’s lawyers claim she tried to rectify the matter before getting caught, a claim prosecutors refute. Although offered a plea deal, the defendant decided to go to trial. If convicted, the nonprofit boss could face a 20-year prison sentence.
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