Georgia Man Guilty of Making a False or Fictitious Statement; Sentenced to Prison and Restitution

U.S. Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that Randolph Hill, age 70, of Sharpsburg, Georgia, appeared before Chief U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier on June 18, 2012 to be sentenced following his guilty plea to a superseding information that charged him with making a false or fictitious statement. The maximum penalty for that charge is five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release, and restitution.

Hill contracted to trade a shipment of granular urea from a foreign source to a South Dakota business. When asked about the identity of Hill’s supposed overseas urea supplier, Hill falsified, concealed, and covered up a material fact. When the FBI made it known to Hill that it was central to the investigation to determine whether Hill had in fact been dealing with an actual foreign source of granular urea to ship the product to the South Dakota company for this particular deal, which is what Hill had been telling the South Dakota company, Hill made a variety of statements and representations intending to conceal and cover up the material fact that he had not engaged nor had he even found a particular overseas supplier for this particular deal.

Hill was sentenced to two years of imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. Hill was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $221,031.69 along with a $100 assessment to the Victim Assistance Fund.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Koliner. Hill was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.