Woman charged with food stamp fraud after allegedly using missing daughter’s identity

A Nashville mother who collected food stamp benefits under her missing daughter’s name nearly nine years after the teenager disappeared has been arrested. She’s charged with felony food stamp fraud.

A Food Stamp Fraud Charge

Shannon Anderson, 51, of Nashville, was arrested in the early hours of the morning of Saturday, May 27, 2026 and charged with felony food stamp fraud by Metro Nashville Police in connection with using her daughter, Jodie “Brooke” Anderson’s name on government food stamps.

Anderson has since been arrested on seven charges, which include sex offender registry violations, food stamp fraud, food stamp and drug charges and was being held at the Nashville Sheriff’s Office in lieu of bonds totaling $22,000.

Jodie “Brooke” Anderson Went Missing in 2017

Brooke, then 18, was reported missing from her mom’s vehicle by Anderson, on Aug. 9, 2017.

Brooke was seen last with Anderson the month prior while visiting the Jack In The Box restaurant on Murfreesboro Pike in Nashville.

Her aunt, De’Anna Anderson of Columbia, has criticized her sister for not reporting her missing until late July/early August. She says they had all lived together prior and lived apart and the wait to report her missing had cost them time and maybe life of Brooke “I personally believe she murdered my niece but that is a guess and it just doesn’t fit anyone else that she went missing on their watch like this.

Shannon needs to have some responsibility for what happened to my daughter if she had nothing to do with it,” De’Anna Anderson said.

She believes police should re-investigate Brooke Anderson’s disappearance with this recent food stamp case possibly linked to a coverup. “I think what happened to Brooke should be brought up by all of them, my brother-in-law, and I hope they bring closure to Brooke.”

‘My Child is Missing’: Family Reacts to the Allegations and Food Stamp Fraud

Family members of the alleged food stamp scammer said their focus was always on finding Brooke.

“I just want my daughter found,” De’Anna Anderson said in 2019, in a report where we featured Brooke’s disappearance and ongoing investigation. “It is hard. It makes it much harder when something like this happens.” Anderson is on the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry and convicted in 2017 of prostitution. It is not known whether she had any plea agreements made in court regarding her charges.