The judge presiding over the Feeding Our Future case is limiting convicted ringleader Aimee Bock's access to confidential case documents from jail after she allegedly directed her adult sons to send the files to reporters and elected officials.
In March 2024, a jury found Bock, the former executive director of Feeding Our Future, guilty of wire fraud and bribery. Prosecutors said she led dozens of people in a scheme to swindle taxpayers out of $250 million during the COVID-19 pandemic by falsely claiming to have served millions of meals through two government child nutrition programs.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel to prohibit Bock from speaking with her sons prior to her May 21 sentencing hearing, but Brasel said at a Thursday hearing that would be a step too far.
“I’m not going to preclude Ms. Bock from talking with her sons,” Brasel said. “We can come up with a remedy that doesn’t go that far.”
Bock appeared at the hearing wearing ankle chains and a neon green jail uniform. She spoke privately with her attorney but did not address the court directly.
Citing recorded calls from the Sherburne County Jail, prosecutors Matthew Murphy and Rebecca Kline said that since at least February, Bock directed Camden Bock, 20, to download case files from a Dropbox account and send them to public officials and the news media. MPR News received several batches of files from a sender who used the pseudonym “Daisy Hill.”
The prosecutors said that this was a clear violation of Brasel’s 2022 protective order that requires parties to the case to hold non-public evidence “in strict confidentiality.”
Of particular concern, Murphy told the judge, are FBI FD-302 forms sent to a reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune that summarize law enforcement witness interviews.
Murphy conceded that he does not have a “direct line” that proves Bock sent the documents to the newspaper, but in a recorded call, Bock “references that she’s doing an interview with the same reporter who has the leaked documents. She also mentions that the reporter has hundreds of 302 reports.”
Defense attorney Kenneth Udoibok said that he also listened to the jail calls and heard Bock make an inartful attempt to clear her name.
“What I heard was my client crying out for help in the wrong ways, and concerned about her children, and wanting to reach out to any and all people,” Udoibok said.
Prosecutors noted that Bock directed her son to remove exhibit stickers and other markings to indicate that the documents came from her case files.
“The request to remove information from documents that indicates they’re part of a federal case is clear evidence of consciousness of guilt,” Brasel said. “That’s really clear from the calls and it’s really disturbing.”
Citing past incidents of witness intimidation, Brasel said that any leaks of confidential information could have a chilling effect on people who may testify in related cases.
“Ms. Bock’s case is not the end of the Feeding Our Future litigation and trials,” Brasel said. “I have upcoming trials about the same scheme.
“I’m concerned by the information that I have, because what I heard goes beyond a person who’s obviously understandably distressed and wants to convince the public of her innocence.”
Brasel ordered Bock not to access case files without her attorney present. The judge also ordered Udoibok to change Bock’s Dropbox password, ensure that all confidential documents are deleted from her sons' computers, and draft a list of all the files sent.
The judge did not postpone Bock’s sentencing hearing, but she gave prosecutors and the defense extra time to draft their arguments about how much prison time Bock should receive. Because of the fraud’s massive scale, federal sentencing guidelines allow for a life sentence.
