Sisseton Man Found Guilty of Fraud

United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced today that Keith Hagen, age 49, of Sisseton, South Dakota, was found guilty of several counts of fraud by a federal jury on June 28, 2017.

Hagen and his former wife, Amanda Holy Bull, were indicted on February 9, 2016, for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud, three counts of Wire Fraud, and four counts of Mail Fraud.

Hagen and Holy Bull leased pasture land from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They used the land to provide custom cattle grazing services to cattle producers. They entered into contracts with several cattle producers, knowing that they did not lease enough pasture land to graze all of the cattle for which they had contracted. They took up-front payments from several producers, failed to provide the grazing services, and used the money for personal purposes. In all they defrauded producers out of over $200,000.

Each count has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine, 3 years of supervised release, restitution, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann M. Hoffman is prosecuting the case.

Holy Bull, age 33, also of Sisseton, South Dakota, pled guilty to the conspiracy charge and will be sentenced on October 30, 2017. Hagen will be sentenced October 16, 2017.