Tennessee woman sentenced for stealing kids’ meal money

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee woman has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for stealing $162,000 from a government program that provides funding for summer meals for poor children.

Shelby County prosecutors say Jeannette Jives-Nealy was found guilty of theft and money laundering in July. A judge sentenced her Friday.

Jives-Nealy was doing business as Kingdom Dominion Worldwide Ministries when she received $122,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture based on projections she would serve 33,800 meals per month in June and July of 2014. She received an additional $40,000 after claiming to have served more than 40,500 meals that June.

Records showed Jives-Nealy used the money to travel and buy retail items rather than feed children.

She was convicted in a school food voucher scheme in Florida in 2007.