Federal judge sentences former owner of an Ossian business to ten years in prison

The Des Moines Register is reporting that former Ossian business owner Randy Constant has been sentenced to ten years in prison in connection with his guilty plea to a fraud charge for selling organic food which wasn't actually organic.

Constant was the owner of Jericho Solutions, a grain brokerage operated out of Ossian.  Late last year he entered a guilty plea to wire fraud for fraudulently selling at least $142,433,475 in grain as though it was organic--when it was not.

Constant admitted to lying to customers from from 2010 to 2017, telling customers the grain he sold was grown on his certified organic fields in Nebraska and Missouri when the grain was not organic.  In fact, he had either purchased the grain from other growers, sprayed certified organic fields with unauthorized substances, or mixed non-organic grain into organic grain.  As part of his plea agreement, Constant agreed to forfeit $128,190,128 in proceeds from the fraudulent scheme.

According to the Des Moines Register,  US District Court Judge C.J. Williams on Friday said Constant did "extreme and incalculable damage" to the organic food industry.