By Eric Freedman
A grand jury has indicted a Wisconsin farmer on charges of defrauding the federal crop insurance program by submitting bogus claims during a four-year period.
The indictment accuses Jeffrey Lewke of Beaver Dam of repeatedly cheating the U.S. Department of Agriculture though a “scheme to defraud” the government.
Lewke’s farming operation involved as many as 12,000 acres during the period covered by the charges, January 2009 through November 2013, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Milwaukee.
Between 1995 and 2012, Lewke collected $1,185,317 in federal crop disaster, conservation and commodity subsidies, according to the Environmental Working Group’s national farm subsidy database. The indictment makes no mention of any abuses in the crop subsidy program, however.
Officials haven’t disclosed the amount of money Lewke is alleged to have wrongly received from the crop insurance program, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Johnson said, nor does the indictment include such a figure.
Falsified documents went to Lewke’s private crop insurance company, Rain & Hail LLC, and to the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, which runs disaster relief programs for farmers, the indictment charges. The Federal Crop Insurance Corp. reinsures private insurers such as Rain & Hail.
The charges followed an investigation by the USDA’s inspector general. Paul Feeney of the agency’s Washington office said the inspector general’s office doesn’t comment on ongoing investigations and prosecutions.
Among the grand jury’s allegations were that Lewke:
- falsely claimed that excessive moisture prevented him from planting corn where he actually had planted corn;
- lied about how often he irrigated his land;
- submitted phony documents showing that he’d sold damaged beans by submitting a receipt of a cancelled transaction to the crop insurance company;
- boosted a bogus insurance claim by lying about the county where he harvested corn;
- deliberately underreported crop production; and
- falsely claimed that he couldn’t plant corn on land that was actually a cattle yard.
In addition, the indictment said Lewke “knowingly engaged in poor farming practices so as to increase his insurance reimbursement.”
Johnson said nobody else has been charged in connection with the case.
If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
Lewke’s defense lawyer didn’t respond to requests for comment.