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Press Release

Former Wood County Rancher Sentenced For Selling Mortgaged Cattle

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Texas

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

               TYLER, Texas – A 26-year-old Ainsworth, Nebraska man has been sentenced for misapplying funds owed to the Farm Services Agency in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

               Michael Kord Chapman pleaded guilty on Aug. 22, 2012 to conversion of mortgaged property and was sentenced to five years probation today by U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis.  Chapman was also ordered to pay restitution of $83,622.42 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Services Agency.

                According to information presented in court, between Feb. 18, 2011 and Apr. 7, 2011, Chapman sold approximately 158 head of cattle valued at over $83,400.00 that had been pledged as collateral on a loan from the Farm Services Agency.  Instead of paying the loan, Chapman kept the proceeds of the sale for himself and converted them to his own use. 

            This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.

Updated March 12, 2015