Nevada Man Pleads Guilty to $2 Million Fraud Scheme

SPRINGFIELD, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that an Nevada, Missouri man has pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in a $2 million scheme to defraud Cargill, Inc. by creating fictitious scale tickets for loads of corn that were paid for but never actually delivered to the company’s Butterfield, Missouri feed mill.

Bob True Beisly, III, 39, of Nevada, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush on Tuesday, August 6, 2013, to one count of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.

In a separate but related case, Jeffrey Hobbs, 41, of Exeter, pleaded guilty on May 20, 2013, to wire fraud. Hobbs worked as a scale operator and pellet mill operator at Cargill’s Butterfield feed mill from December 1999 until March 2013. When a delivery truck would arrive at the feed mill, Hobbs was responsible for weighing each truck and its contents. Once the truck was weighed, Hobbs created a scale ticket for the company that delivered the grain, corn or feed. A copy of the scale ticket was sent to Cargill’s headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for processing and payment to the trucking company.

Beisly and other individuals approached Hobbs in 2002 about creating fictitious scale tickets for non-delivered loads of corn as a way to make money and ultimately defraud Cargill. Hobbs began creating completely fictitious scale tickets for Beisly and others for the delivery of loads of grain, corn or feed that did not truly exist.

Beisly owned and operated K&B Grain. Beisly obtained contracts with Cargill for the delivery of a set number of grain loads that were supposed to deliver grain, corn, or another type of product to the Butterfield feed mill. Beisly admitted that he received numerous fictitious scale tickets from Hobbs for deliveries that were never actually made. Beisly also admitted that at least once a week he received a fictitious scale ticket from Hobbs that claimed he had delivered a shipment of grain to the Butterfield feed mill, when in truth and fact, no such shipment or delivery was made. Shortly after the fictitious scale tickets were created by Hobbs, Beisly received a payment from Cargill.

Hobbs initially received $300 in kickbacks for each “ghost load,” which was later increased to $500 in cash for each “ghost load.”

Cargill officials discovered the fraud when the amount of grain, corn or feed that was being paid for was inconsistent with the amount they actually received. Over a span of nine years, this fraud scheme caused losses to Cargill of approximately $2 million. According to today’s plea agreement, Cargill’s losses associated with Beisly totaled approximately $559,616. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Beisly must pay a money judgment for that amount to the government.

Under federal statutes, Beisly is subject to a sentence of up to 40 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $500,000 and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the FBI and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.