Ex-Healey Aide Charged With SNAP Fraud While Out on a Cocaine Case. His Mother Had Just Won $1 Million.
A former aide to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey who is already awaiting trial on state cocaine-trafficking and firearm charges was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that he lied to get food-stamp benefits while out on pretrial release, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston said. The Digital Free Press has asked federal prosecutors and the governor's office for comment and will update this story with any response.
Lamar Cook, 46, of Springfield, is charged by criminal complaint with SNAP fraud and wire fraud. The complaint was filed under seal on Oct. 6 and unsealed Wednesday, the day he was arrested and made his initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson, according to the court docket. The court appointed federal defender Scott Lauer to represent him, and prosecutors filed a motion for temporary detention. Cook was released after the hearing, and the prosecutor told the judge that the state court is expected to revoke his bail as soon as Thursday, WCVB reported. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.
Healey appointed Cook in 2023 as the Western Massachusetts deputy director in her Springfield office, a job that paid $130,227 a year, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He was fired in October 2025 after he was detained at the Springfield State Office Building and charged by the Hampden District Attorney's Office with drug and firearm offenses. The pending Hampden County Superior Court indictment charges him with trafficking more than 200 grams of cocaine, conspiracy and firearm offenses, the release says.
THE SNAP FRAUD ALLEGATIONS
According to the charging documents, Cook applied for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits on April 6, 2026, and claimed zero income, less than $100 in the bank, and a two-person household made up of himself and his minor child. Prosecutors say that on the day he applied he had at least one bank account holding more than $8,800, and that his fiancée and her mother lived with him at his Springfield home. The fiancée earned more than $80,000 a year from the Springfield public schools, the affidavit says.
The money kept coming, according to the release. After his firing, the state paid Cook $22,374.29 in net pay for accrued vacation leave, then "realized an error," tried to reverse the direct deposits and could not "due to insufficient funds available in the accounts." His bank balance was about $13,000 in January 2026. He received a $2,497.88 federal and state tax refund in May. And his mother, who won about $1 million in the Massachusetts Lottery in early 2026, sent him roughly $12,000 through Zelle between May and June, prosecutors say.
Cook received about $546 a month in SNAP benefits, which were used at grocery and retail stores in Massachusetts and on a July 2026 trip to Florida, according to the release. Retail surveillance and transaction records show his fiancée frequently used his EBT card for household purchases even though she was not listed on his application, prosecutors say.
A FEDERAL PROSECUTOR TAKES AIM AT THE STATE
"The alleged conduct is simply egregious," U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said. "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."
Foley, a Trump appointee, also turned the case on the state. "What kind of system allows for someone like this defendant to receive taxpayer funded benefits?" she said. "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."
Healey, asked about the arrest at an event Wednesday, said: "Good, good. That's a federal program. Those are federal taxpayer dollars, and I'm glad that the U.S. Attorney's Office has taken action," according to WCVB.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector General John Walk called the case "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."
WHAT TDFP ASKED
On Oct. 14, TDFP emailed the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts and Gov. Healey's press office, with a deadline of 3 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Oct. 15. TDFP asked prosecutors:
1. How much in SNAP benefits is he alleged to have received, and over what period?
2. Is he in custody, when is his next court date, and who represents him?
3. Which agency referred the case: the state's Department of Transitional Assistance, USDA's inspector general, or another?
4. Is anyone else under investigation in connection with the case?
TDFP asked the governor's office for Cook's dates of service and how his employment ended, what vetting he went through before his appointment, when the administration learned of the state drug and firearms charges, and whether the state has recovered any of the $22,374.29 vacation payout. TDFP has asked both offices for comment and will update this story with any response.
SNAP fraud carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; wire fraud carries up to 20 years. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Mallard of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case, which was investigated with the USDA and Health and Human Services inspectors general, the Massachusetts State Police, the Hampden District Attorney's Office, Homeland Security Investigations in New England and the Springfield Police Department. Foley created a district-wide Benefit & Voter Fraud Team on March 26, 2026.
Hold Everyone Accountable.
Sources: U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts press release (Oct. 14, 2026); court docket, United States v. Cook, No. 1:26-mj-08305 (D. Mass.) via CourtListener; WCVB (Oct. 14, 2026).
Images: Cover photo of the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse by Mbfitz, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Department of Justice seal, public domain.
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