KY farmer pleads guilty after selling cattle in others’ names to avoid loan payments
A Montgomery County farmer has admitted selling cattle in other peoples’ names to avoid using the money to pay his loans.
Steven Ray Williams, 58, pleaded guilty in federal court in Lexington to one charge of bank fraud and one charge of aggravated identify theft.
Williams pledged 34 pieces of farm equipment and more than 200 cows and bulls as collateral on a series of loans through the federal Farm Services Agency, according to the court record.
From 2012 through June 2015, however, he sold cattle at stockyards around Central Kentucky in the names of other people.
Williams forged the signatures of the other people on the checks and added his name below theirs, allowing him to cash the checks and keep the money, according to his plea agreement.
In six instances in 2014 and 2015, Williams used the name of David Hale to sell cattle.
Hale, a Republican state representative at the time, had no knowledge Williams was misusing his name, according to court records.
The indictment charged that Williams also forged the name of a Farm Services Agency official to sell a piece of equipment, and forged the name of a bankruptcy trustee for a fraudulent cattle sale after he filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012.
Williams was indicted on 11 charges, but pleaded guilty on two. Typically, prosecutors agree to drop some charges as part of a plea agreement.
Williams faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, but his sentence likely will be less under advisory guidelines.
U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell scheduled to be sentenced in April.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 9:55 AM.
