Following a mistrial earlier this year, a former Congressional candidate is back in court for a new trial on federal fraud charges.
Shaun Brown is accused of fraud and theft of government property. She allegedly stole from the USDA's Summer Food Service Program in 2012, years before her failed House of Representatives run in Virginia's 2nd District. Brown, then the Democratic nominee, lost to Republican Scott Brown in 2016.
On Monday, prosecutors said Brown was part of a scheme and orchestrated a plan to defraud the summer food service program.
They also said Brown falsified the daily meal count sheets getting reimbursed hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to an indictment, Brown worked with the non-profit "JOBS," which sponsored the program in 2011 and 2012.
Prosecutors said Brown and members of her staff submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement in 2012, inflating the number of children who were fed to obtain additional money.
Brown's attorney, James Ellenson, said Brown did the best she could to get numbers to match, which is not fraud her attorney claimed.
Brown's attorney said his client didn't steal a dime, and there was no criminal intent.
"I look forward to Shaun being found not guilty," Ellenson said.
Brown and her attorney James Ellenson previously told 13News Now reporter Niko Clemmons that a Virginia Department of Health audit done back in 2012 and 2013 found no irregularities.
In August, Brown went on trial, which ended up with a hung jury.
There are 54 potential jurors Monday morning. The judge and the court brought that number down to 14.
The judge previously ruled that none of the jurors could be from the 2nd District, where Brown had again been running for Congress earlier this year -- this time as an independent candidate -- before she was removed from the ballot due to issues with her ballot petitions.
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