TEXAS FARMER CONVICTED:

United States Attorney Jane J. Boyle announced that in early March 2003 a federal jury in Wichita Falls, Texas, convicted Wendell Lynn Mints, on all 25 counts of an indictment that charged him with: one count of conspiracy to submit false claims and false statements to the United States Department of Agriculture; nine counts of making false claims to the government regarding the submission of false crop insurance claims; nine counts of making false statements to the government; and six counts of making false statements to the USDA during the course of the investigation. According to the USDA, Mints, age 65, faces a maximum statutory sentence of 125 years imprisonment, a $6.25 million fine, and restitution to be paid not only for the crop claims in Wilbarger County, but also for the crop claims in neighboring Foard County. The government presented evidence at trial that Mints operated an elaborate scheme in which he “worked the system” to falsify crop insurance loss documents and collected insurance money for thousands of acres of cotton and wheat sorghum fields he did not plant. Mints’ fraud reportedly cost the government more than $500,000. USDA Farm Service Agency employees in Wilbarger County testified that inconsistent statements Mints made in documents he submitted to their office caused them to physically inspect his fields. They said they found no evidence that Mints had planted cotton or wheat grain sorghum, as he had claimed. An expert in satellite imagery testified that infrared satellite photos taken of Wilbarger County by U.S. Land Sat indicated that the condition of the fields, and crops growing on them, were inconsistent with Mints’ claims that he had planted cotton and grain sorghum. Evidence was also presented that during the investigation, when Mints was asked to provide receipts indicating that he had actually purchased seed to plant the crops, he went to a seed dealer and had that seed dealer prepare false and fictitious receipts for Mints to reflect bogus sales.