U.S. Agriculture Secretary weighs in on lunch fraud
Pete Skiba
ALBANY, Ga. — Asked about recent school lunch fraud allegations in the Dougherty County School System, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said his office is taking steps to prevent fraud.
In an exclusive interview with The Albany Herald after speaking at the Albany State University 2012 graduation Vilsack had only a few minutes to talk.
“With 32 million children in 100,000 school districts it is a challenge,” Vilsack said. “We are working on more auditing and working with the states in this area.”
Vilsack said he expects school lunch fraud to drop with the tighter auditing, just as fraud has dropped in locations with a computer matching system that matches students to qualifying data.
Recently Dougherty County School Board member Velvet Riggins was accused of felony falsifying information on free or reduced-cost school lunch applications.
Morningside Elementary Principal Gloria Baker was indicted on three felony counts and her husband John Baker also faces felony counts in connection with alleged fraud on lunch qualifying paperwork.
All three were indicted on providing false information to obtain free school meals for a child, a misdemeanor.
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