FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
June 24, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:10-cr-00343 LJO

            FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Randal Alfred Burtis, 50, of Patterson, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit mail fraud and bank fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud almond growers and nut processors of money and property.

            According to the plea agreement, Burtis and various co-defendants caused almonds to be stolen and diverted from growers, hullers, and processors, including from Westside Hulling and its growers, and caused the almonds to be sold to nut processing companies for the benefit of the defendants. In some cases, the defendants caused a nut processor to enter into fictitious purchases of “ghost loads” of nuts that did not actually exist. In furtherance of the scheme, the defendants used nominee names, fictitious identities, or the name of an actual person without the person’s knowledge or consent.

Burtis also admitted that the defendants frequently caused payment checks from nut processors to be sent by U.S. mail to a post office box obtained in the name of a nominee, and caused the checks to be cashed or to be deposited into a bank account in the name of a nominee. In some cases, Burtis and his co-defendants caused federally insured financial institutions to negotiate the checks based upon forged endorsements. During the period of the scheme, Burtis was the general manager of Westside Hulling Inc.

            Burtis admitted that he and his co-defendants caused nut processors to pay approximately $3.5 million for stolen and diverted nuts that did not belong to the defendants and for fictitious shipments of nuts that were never delivered. Burtis admitted receiving approximately $1.5 million in proceeds from the scheme.

            This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kirk Sherriff and Stanley Boone are prosecuting the case.

            Burtis is scheduled to be sentenced on December 16, 2011 by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill, in Fresno. He faces the maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

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