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Former congressional candidate charged with fraud

Posted at 6:48 PM, Dec 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-20 19:34:03-05

Shaun Brown

NORFOLK, Va. – A Hampton woman who ran as the Democratic candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 2nd district was charged with wire fraud and theft of government property Wednesday.

The indictment says 58-year-old Shaun Brown worked with Virginia non-profit JOBS Community Outreach Development Corporation and reportedly stole from the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), a federally-funded program to feed children during the summer when free-lunch programs stop at the end of the school year, in 2011 and 2012.

Brown was responsible for running the SFSP for JOBS, and in 2012, Brown and others submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement. As part of the scheme, she would direct staff to inflate the numbers of children actually fed and falsify documents in order to obtain additional money.

Brown lost the seat to Republican Scott Taylor in 2016.

She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted and is scheduled to appear in the Norfolk Federal Court on January 12.