“This could have been easily viewed as felony fraud by those who stole the food.”
IMHO, it would be very difficult to prove that charge in a courtroom.
If your Mom keeps the cookie jar on a top shelf and tells you to keep out of it, you know you’ll be punished if you put a chair on the counter top and climb up to raid the jar. However, if you find the jar conveniently located on a low table, with no one watching, and no prior warnings to keep away from it; you would probably be forgiven for assuming you could reach in and take a few cookies.
This was St. Landry Parish. The man (and his wife) - both African-Americans - had fraudulent grades made at Southern University (mostly African-American university).
Both the husband and wife were members of the school board.
The husband had to step down as head of the school board when the fraud was discovered.
But he still was a member of the school board until a judge forced him to step down.
This is a horrible example for young people -- especially African-Americans
Apparently more than food was purchased, I think any cases involving other than food would have a good chance of showing the individual knew what they were doing was wrong (if the suggestion a TV was purchase is substantiated - no sympathy).
These people were not little children, no matter how irresponsible they may be regarding providing for themselves. They knew or should have known about how much was available - the abandoned carts show many were clearly taking advantage.