FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
November 14, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:10-cr-343-LJO

                FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that a federal jury returned a guilty verdict today against Ronald John Salado, 59, of Modesto, for conspiring to commit mail fraud and bank fraud, two counts of mail fraud, nine counts of bank fraud, and two counts of money laundering, stemming from a scheme he carried out with other industry insiders to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds of almonds and to defraud Central Valley almond growers and nut processors of money and property. After a two-week trial, United States District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill remanded Salado into custody, finding that he was a flight risk and that he had committed perjury in his testimony at trial.

                The evidence at trial showed that, from August 2000 to October 2007, Salado, along with other conspirators including Randal Burtis, Robert Adams, and Jason Espinola, conspired to steal almonds from nut growers and businesses in the nut industry, and sold the almonds under fictitious and nominee names for the benefit of Salado and the other conspirators. At times, the conspirators caused a nut processor to enter into fictitious purchases of “ghost loads” of nuts that did not actually exist. Salado and the other conspirators received payments in the fictitious and nominee names for these nut sales, negotiated many of the checks through banks using forged endorsements, and distributed the proceeds among themselves. During the scheme, Salado was the almond buyer at a nut processor in Turlock, Burtis was the general manager at a nut huller in Westley, and Adams was the plant manager at a nut processor in LeGrand. Jason Espinola participated in the conspiracy from 2000 to 2002 as a purported nominee grower.

Burtis pleaded guilty on June 24, 2011 to conspiring to commit mail fraud and bank fraud, Adams pleaded guilty on August 29, 2011 to the conspiracy, and Espinola pleaded guilty on July 21, 2011 to bank fraud. They are scheduled to be sentenced on December 19, 2011.

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

                “Agriculture is the backbone of the economy in the Central Valley,” said U.S. Attorney Wagner. “Protecting the agriculture industry from fraud and corruption is one of the critical functions of this office.”

                Salado is scheduled to be sentenced on February 6, 2012. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy, 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the mail fraud counts, 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on the bank fraud counts, and 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the money laundering counts. The actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

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