The Foodbank of Southern California closed its doors in Long Beach after law enforcement raided their offices following allegations of misuse of government funding.
The California Department of Social Services terminated funding the food bank and is investigating the organization.
“They showed up with battering rams, bulletproof vests, and guns drawn,” said Brian Weaver, the new CEO of the Food Bank of Southern California, describing the raid on his offices by law enforcement one week ago today. “They took all of our food!”
Weaver said agents asked him questions about the former CEO Jeanne Cooper and at least one other former board member as they scoured the building for evidence.
“They went through all of our books, all of our records. They went through everything here,” said Weaver.
The food bank had already started its own internal investigation into Cooper months ago after allegations of misuse of funds.
Weaver hired an outside forensic accounting firm and realized how bad it was.
“They came up with fraud that was huge! That went on for decades,” said Weaver. “Anywhere from 5-10 (million dollars).”
Copper denied the allegations, writing in an email to NBC4, “I did not use any funds for personal use.”
The former CEO leveled counter-allegations against other board members, and she said that they pressured her to “pay them” with the money in question.
Cooper said it was her that was a whistleblower to the state officials.
“I alerted the State of California Department of Social Services, the state attorney general… to look into the practices of the board,” said Cooper.
The state would not comment on the investigation.
Cooper said she stepped down from her role in March but remains on the payroll.
“She can make any statement that she wants, but the evidence is the evidence and we have lots of it,” said Weaver.
The food bank, which serves about 300 pantries in mostly South LA and Long Beach, is now closed down.
Weaver suspended operations and furloughed most of its staff for the next 30 days.
“We still do not know what the complete fallout of the state and federal government is going to be, but right now we are just restructuring and we are going to continue to go out a feed people,” said Weaver.
