Press Release
Four Farmer's Co-op Employees Indicted For Falsifying Harvest Load Weights
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Alabama
BIRMINGHAM -- A federal grand jury today indicted four employees of a north Alabama farmer's cooperative for making false statements to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Craig Caldwell and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General-Investigations, Special Agent in Charge Karen Wilcox-Citizen.
In separate indictments filed in U.S. District Court, the grand jury charged AARON BLAKE WILLIAMS, 25, and TYLER THOMAS GLAZE, 26, both of Decatur, JAMES EDWARD TOON JR., 35, of Elkmont, and JOSHUA WAYNE HOLT, 32, of Hartselle, with falsifying certifications of harvest load weights from August 2009 to March 2013 at the Alabama Farmer's Cooperative in Decatur.
The maximum penalty for making false statements to the government is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Secret Service and USDA, OIG, investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney David H. Estes is prosecuting.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Updated March 19, 2015
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