KANSAS CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that the owner of a now-defunct Savannah, Mo., business pleaded guilty in federal court today to a scheme to defraud U.S. Bank in St. Joseph, Mo., of more than $2 million.

Wilbur L. Duncan, 71, of Savannah, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to a federal information that charges him with four counts of loan application fraud.

Duncan was the owner of Duncan Agri Service, which is no longer in business. By pleading guilty today, Duncan admitted that he made materially false statements on inventory reports that were used by U.S. Bank to secure a line of credit for his business. Duncan admitted that he overvalued property or security and falsely represented the value of business inventory on those reports.

Duncan made dozens of false statements regarding the inventory over the life of the loans. The inventory was substantially less that Duncan reported and U.S. Bank would not have continued to extend a line of credit, or would have substantially reduced the line of credit to Duncan Agri Service, had the bank known of the actual level of inventory.

As a result of this scheme, Duncan defrauded U.S. Bank in the amount of $2,160,085 and created a loss of $1,459,455 for the bank after liquidation of Duncan Argi Service assets.

Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Duncan must forfeit to the government residential property in Gravois Mills, Mo., a 2008 Chevrolet pickup truck, a 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer, a 2000 Xpres 16-foot aluminum bass boat, a 1996 Chris 27-foot fiberglass boat and a 2000 Mercury motor.

Under federal statutes, Duncan is subject to a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $1 million and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Gregg Coonrod. It was investigated by the FBI.