Accountant pleads guilty in Mississippi human services fraud

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An accountant has pleaded guilty to her role in what Mississippi investigators called a massive theft of welfare money in the nation’s poorest state. Court records show 65-year-old Anne McGrew of Jackson pleaded guilty Monday and agreed to testify against others indicted in the case. They include her former employers, Nancy New and Zach New, a mother and son who ran nonprofit and for-profit organizations that received money from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. McGrew, Nancy New and Zach New were among six people indicted in early 2020 in what state Auditor Shad White called “a sprawling conspiracy” of alleged misspending.