A federal grand jury has indicted two former managers at a Sioux Center, IA, ag cooperative on charges of mixing lower-valued grain with soybeans and filing false certifications with federal inspectors, reports Sioux City Journal.
Kenneth Ehrp and Calvin Diehl both are charged in U.S. District Court in Sioux City with conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false statements.
The indictment said that from 2011 to 2017, Ehrp and Diehl directed Farmers Cooperative Society workers to layer higher-valued soybeans over oats in grain bins and in trucks and concealed the practice from customers and USDA inspectors in order to deceive them about the quality and quantity of the grain they were selling and storing.
Ehrp is suing the co-op for deferred wages and to force the co-op to continue contributions to Ehrp's insurance trust.
