Earlville Farmer Charged With Stealing Sealed Corn
Contact: Peter Deegan
Chris Wessels, age 49, from Earlville, Iowa, has been charged with one count of stealing corn mortgaged to the Commodity Credit Corporation. The charge is contained in an Indictment unsealed December 22, 2010, in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.
The Indictment alleges that, between about January 15, 2008, and May 12, 2008, Wessels stole, removed, disposed of, and converted to his own use approximately 32,000 bushels of corn that was mortgaged and pledged to the Commodity Credit Corporation as security for a Farm Storage Note in the amount of $61,440.
If convicted, Wessels faces a possible maximum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
Wessels appeared today in federal court in Cedar Rapids and was released on bond. Wessels’ next appearance for trial is set for February 22, 2011.
As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bob Teig and was investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 10-2057.
