A La Vergne woman is facing federal conspiracy and fraud charges for stealing money from the state's child care food program.
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced the charges Wednesday.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates had already been working on this when the news broke.
So how much money did this woman allegedly take?
Federal prosecutors say over an 18-month period, LaShane Hayes and her non-profit All About Giving received a little more than $2 million.
Some of that money did go to feed kids.
But sources tell NewsChannel 5 Investigates it appears that about half of that money did not.
The 43-year-old Hayes most recently ran her All About Giving food program out of her house in LaVergne. The program got money from the Tennessee Department of Human Services and then gave it to child care providers to feed low-income kids.
But prosecutors say Hayes overstated the number of providers who were feeding children and overstated the number of kids who were being fed so she could collect extra money.
Court documents filed today also allege that Hayes created fake records to back up her claims.
If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison.
She also could be ordered to pay back everything she fraudulently took.
This is the fourth such DHS program recently to be accused of mishandling or misspending federal funds and state lawmakers are not happy.
