KY farmer gets prison time for selling cattle in others’ names to avoid loan payments
A Montgomery County farmer who sold cattle in other people’s names to avoid applying the money to outstanding loans has been sentenced to two years and six months in federal prison.
Steven Ray Williams pleaded guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell sentenced Williams Thursday in Lexington.
Williams, 58, took out a series of loans from the Farm Services Agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, pledging equipment and livestock as collateral, according to court documents.
However, after filing for bankruptcy in 2012, Williams sold cattle several times at stockyards in Central Kentucky under the names of other people.
Williams forged those other people’s names on the checks and then co-signed them, which allowed him to put the money into his account, according to a court document.
In several cases, Williams used the name of a Republican state representative to sell cattle. In other cases, he forged the names of officials from the Farm Services Agency or the bankruptcy court.
The loss to the government was about $151,000.
Williams’ attorney, Adele Burt Brown, said in a memorandum that Williams turned to fraud after his mother died in early 2012. Williams had lived with his mother all his adult life and taken care of her, and he became withdrawn after her death, Brown wrote.
Williams also lost his contracts to grow tobacco, driving down his income. His criminal conduct was born out of despair and being overwhelmed by trying to run several farms, Brown wrote.
Brown noted that neighbors, church members and friends had described Williams as generous and kind, taking care of his sister’s property after she had a stroke, taking food to a shut-in neighbor and working with children at church.
“His history of giving and caring for others, and not being concerned for himself, show a character unlike what would be expected in a bank fraud/identity theft defendant,” Brown said.
Williams also has been paying $100 a month toward the debt.
Federal sentencing guidelines called for a minimum sentence of 39 months for Williams, but Brown requested a variance from that to 30 months.
Caldwell granted that motion.
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 9:48 AM.
