Brookings Man Sentenced to Prison and over $5 Million in Victim Restitution

US Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that a Brookings man charged with Mail Fraud was sentenced on April 1, 2011, by US District Judge Roberto A. Lange. David Beulke, age 63, was sentenced to 51 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $5,610,563 in restitution. In addition, the Court ordered Beulke’s attorney to pay over $1,222,583.77 that had been held in his client’s trust account to be paid toward victim restitution. The Government previously had seized $2,479,690.72 from a variety of retirement and investment accounts.

Beulke waived indictment and was charged by Information for Mail Fraud on November 29, 2010.
From approximately February 1, 1993, through September 30, 2008, Beulke was employed by 3M Corporation as an engineer. He created shell companies and held them out to 3M as legitimate vendors of specialized parts. Beulke caused 3M to place orders for supposed parts from his shell companies, knowing that those orders were fraudulent. He kept the money 3M sent for the supposed parts for his own personal use. He initially deposited the money into various accounts, spent some on purchases and other personal expenses, and transferred a large amount of those funds into a variety of investment and retirement accounts. Through this scheme, Beulke unlawfully received approximately $5,610,563.
As part of this scheme, he caused checks to be sent and delivered through the US Postal Service.
Beulke pled guilty on December 10, 2010.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant US Attorney Kevin Koliner prosecuted the case.

Beulke was immediately turned over to the custody of the US Marshal.