An executive at a St. Louis-area non-profit is facing some serious legal trouble after being accused of misusing federal funds to finance her lavish lifestyle. Connie Bobo was the executive director at New Heights Community Resource Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping low-income children.
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But instead of providing much-needed food assistance in the community, the 46-year-old is accused of taking more than $10 million in grant money she received from two U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded programs for herself.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bobo allegedly claimed millions of dollars in reimbursements for food and milk purchased for her program between 2019 and 2022, but spent over $10 million of the money on things that had absolutely nothing to do with the charity, including a million-dollar mansion in St. Charles County, for herself (which she claimed was the New Heights headquarters), homes for relatives and commercial investment properties.
She also allegedly gave over $1 million of the grant funds to her boyfriend, Howard Hughes III, who dropped over $200,000 of it on a new Mercedes wagon for himself. Bobo’s trial began this week on charges that include three counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of obstruction of an official proceeding. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison.
Although her defense team claims Bobo’s actions were in the “best interest of the community,” prosecutors aren’t here for it, pointing out how she doubled down when she was close to getting caught. During her trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow told members of the jury how Bobo allegedly used the funds intended for the nonprofit to purchase luxury items for herself and her boyfriend.
Clow added that the defendant committed even more crimes – including forging documents and falsely claiming family members as New Heights board members – to cover up her actions.
“As her lies were discovered, the defendant used forged documents to try and cover up her crimes,” he said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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