Former Massachusetts state official Lamar Cook has been indicted on a second count of wire fraud in connection with allegations that he fraudulently obtained Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits while on court-ordered pretrial release in a pending state case involving alleged cocaine trafficking and firearm offenses.
A federal grand jury returned the indictment on Wednesday, adding the new wire fraud charge to the existing case. Cook, 46, of Springfield, was first arrested in October on a criminal complaint charging him with one count of SNAP fraud and one count of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the additional charge Monday in federal court in Boston.
In 2023, Governor Maura Healey appointed Cook to serve as the Western MA Deputy Director in Springfield. Cook was terminated in October 2025 after he was detained at the Springfield State Office building and later charged by the Hampden District Attorney’s Office for alleged drug and firearm offenses. According to court documents, Cook earned a yearly salary of $130,227 and was later paid $22,374.29 in net pay for accrued vacation leave following his termination. The Commonwealth later realized an error in paying Cook for accrued vacation leave time and attempted to reverse the direct deposits, but it could not do so due to insufficient funds available in the accounts.
According to court filings in the federal criminal case, Cook’s bank account continued to hold balances of approximately $13,000 as of January 2026 and over $8,800 in April 2026. He also allegedly received a federal and state tax refund in May 2026 from his employment with the Governor’s Office for the 2025 calendar year in the amount of $2,497.88. Additionally, Cook’s mother won approximately $1 million in the Massachusetts Lottery in early 2026 and allegedly made numerous Zelle payments to him totaling approximately $12,000 between May and June 2026.
According to the charging documents, Cook applied for SNAP benefits on April 6, 2026, and falsely claimed zero income, less than $100 in his bank account, and to be living in a two-person household consisting only of himself and his minor child. Court records indicate he maintained at least one bank account that held more than $8,800 on the date of his application and received thousands of dollars in additional deposits, including payments from his mother. It is further alleged that he failed to disclose that his fiancée and her mother lived with him at his Springfield residence, and that his fiancée earned more than $80,000 annually from the City of Springfield Public Schools.
The second wire fraud count stems from the electronic transmission of that same April 6 application. According to the indictment, the application was sent over the internet to a server in Virginia “for the purpose of executing the scheme to defraud.” That same day, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance transmitted Cook’s information to a service provider in Wisconsin. Each of those interstate communications is charged as a separate wire fraud offense.
Cook received approximately $546 per month in SNAP benefits. Those benefits were allegedly used at grocery and retail stores in Massachusetts and during a July 2026 trip to Florida. Retail surveillance and transaction records show Cook’s fiancée frequently used his EBT card to make purchases for the household, despite not being listed as a member of his household on the SNAP application. Roughly $3,274 in benefits were spent between April and mid-October.
At the time Cook submitted his SNAP application, he was on release for a pending Hampden County Superior Court indictment charging him with trafficking more than 200 grams of cocaine, conspiracy, and firearm offenses stemming from an October 2025 investigation.
“The alleged conduct is simply egregious. SNAP benefits are intended to put food on the table for struggling families who cannot make ends meet, not for those who allegedly hide income to circumvent the financial requirements, much less travel to Disney World. Mr. Cook allegedly lied about his income and the makeup of his household in order to receive over $540 per month in SNAP benefits. All this occurred while Cook was on pretrial release for charged state drug and firearm offenses,” said U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley in October. “What kind of system allows for someone like this defendant to receive taxpayer funded benefits? I find it disturbing that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts could not prevent this from happening, nor could it recover the ill-gained $22,000 payment for earned vacation time — which was also paid out with taxpayer money.”
“It is an unconscionable betrayal of the public trust for a former state official with a pending indictment for drug and gun offenses to then also steal SNAP benefits from the American taxpayer – food assistance benefits intended for low-income Americans,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector General John Walk. “This former state employee lied about his income and family situation to cheat the program. He will now face justice.”
“Fraud against public benefit programs is ultimately a theft from taxpayers and from the beneficiaries these programs are intended to serve,” said Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “HHS-OIG remains committed to protecting the integrity of taxpayer-funded programs and ensuring that those who seek to exploit them for personal gain are held accountable.”
The charge of SNAP fraud provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Each charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
U.S. Attorney Foley, USDA IG Walk, and HHS IG Coviello made the original announcement, with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police, Hampden County District Attorney’s Office, and the Springfield Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Mallard of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case.
