Pierre Man Sentenced for Conversion of Mortgaged Property

United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Pierre, South Dakota, man charged with Conversion of Mortgaged Property pled guilty to and was sentenced on May 16, 2016, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Moreno.

Timothy Sherwood, age 36, was sentenced to five years of unsupervised probation, $25 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, and $65,095.34 in restitution to the Farm Service Agency (FSA).

The conviction stems from an incident that occurred between December 12, 2011, and September 30, 2012, wherein Sherwood was provided a loan in the amount of $76,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, administered by the FSA, to purchase sheep and cover expenses related to their care.  Sherwood then sold the sheep without FSA approval, and deposited the proceeds of the sales into his personal banking account, rather than the FSA banking account as was required by the loan agreement.  Following the sales, Sherwood did not buy any more sheep and did not remit the proceeds to the FSA to repay his loan balance as required.  Sherwood instead spent large amounts of money on personal, non-ranch expenses.

The investigation was conducted by the FSA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan N. Dilges.