LaMar Cook
Introduction
LaMar Cook, 46, a former deputy director of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey’s western Massachusetts office, was charged federally in October 2026 with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fraud and wire fraud — accused of collecting more than $500 a month in food assistance while claiming he had no income and $100 to his name, despite holding a bank account with more than $8,800, a six-figure severance payout, and roughly $12,000 in Zelle transfers from his mother, who had just won $1 million in the lottery. Cook was already facing state cocaine trafficking and firearm charges from an October 2025 arrest at the state office building where he worked, which cost him his $130,000-plus state job. The new federal case turned his pending criminal matters into a demonstration of how one alleged fraud stacked on another.
Background Information
Cook served as deputy director of the governor’s western Massachusetts office, based in Springfield, earning a state salary that paid out $130,227 when he was terminated. He was fired in late October 2025, when the initial gun and cocaine charges against him were announced, after Massachusetts State Police said they intercepted a package containing nearly eight kilograms of cocaine addressed to the Springfield State Office Building where he worked. He pleaded not guilty to the state charges and was released on $25,000 bail in March 2026, one of the release conditions being that he obey federal law. His separation from the state also came with a $22,374.29 accrued-vacation payout that the state later realized was an error; the Massachusetts attorney general’s office sued in January to recover the excess after a reversal of the direct deposit failed because Cook’s account lacked the funds.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged, not convicted. Cook faces a federal criminal complaint charging SNAP fraud and wire fraud, on top of pending state cocaine trafficking and firearm charges to which he has pleaded not guilty. No conviction has been entered in either case, and his defense calls the bail-revocation theory “mental gymnastics.”
According to U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley’s office, Cook applied for SNAP benefits on April 6, 2026, claiming he had no income and just $100 in his bank account — while holding at least one account with over $8,800. On his application he listed himself as living only with his child, omitting his fiancée, a Springfield Public Schools employee earning over $80,000 a year, and her mother, who shared the home. He received more than $500 a month in benefits, which prosecutors say were spent on groceries in Massachusetts and on a July trip to Florida, with the fiancée — not listed as a household member — allegedly using the funds for household purchases too. Alongside the application-period income, prosecutors tallied the $130,227 salary payout, $2,497.88 in May tax refunds, and Zelle payments totaling around $12,000 from his mother.
Cook was arrested Wednesday, October 14, 2026, on the federal complaint and released on personal recognizance after a hearing in Boston federal court the same day. In her announcement, Foley called his actions “egregious,” writing that SNAP is meant for those who need it, not those who “allegedly hide income to circumvent the financial requirements” — and used her statement to criticize the state: “I find it disturbing that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts could not prevent this from happening.” The next day, Hampden County prosecutors moved to revoke his state-court bail, arguing the new federal offenses violated his release condition that he obey federal law.
Public Reaction and Consequences
At the Thursday, October 15 bail hearing, Hampden County District Attorney Kerry Beattie told the judge, “We’re not here because the Commonwealth brought a case or the United States government brought a case,” she said. “We’re here because Mr. Cook committed more crimes.” Cook’s attorney, Kedar Ismail, countered that his client had appeared in court “on his own volition”, that the new federal charges remained allegations, and that the revocation push was “some type of stretch… some mental gymnastics that the Commonwealth is doing in order to try to have this gentleman held.” Judge David Hodge granted the request, ordering Cook held for 90 days at the conclusion of the hearing. The case also became a political test for the Healey administration, which faced questions about how a deputy director under state pay and investigation could simultaneously collect food assistance.
Current Status
Cook is held without bail for 90 days by order of Judge David Hodge in the Hampden County case, with the federal SNAP and wire fraud charges pending in Boston and the state cocaine trafficking and firearm charges still awaiting trial. He has not been convicted in any of the three matters; the federal charges are allegations in a criminal complaint, and his attorney has emphasized they remain unproven. A public defender listed as his federal lawyer declined to comment when WBUR asked. The attorney general’s suit to recover the erroneous vacation payout remains the civil backdrop to the criminal calendar.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Cook’s path from a $130,000 governor’s-office post to a 90-day hold in the Hampden County system is now a case study in compounding consequences: the October 2025 trafficking arrest ended his state career and triggered a still-unresolved recovery fight over his payout; the April 2026 SNAP application, filed while he was on bail, generated the federal charges; and the federal charges in turn stripped him of the bail freedom his state case still depended on. For the Healey administration, the affair forced an uncomfortable defense of state payout and vetting practices against a presidentially appointed U.S. attorney’s public criticism.