Robert Harry Bickerstaff of Rock Rapids, Iowa, has been sentenced to six months in prison for defrauding pork producers while working as the regional manager of an Iowa livestock dealer.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 52-year-old Bickerstaff was convicted of one count of wire fraud after he pleaded guilty last December.
During the plea hearing, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Bickerstaff admitted he had worked as a regional manager for an Iowa livestock dealer between 2018 and 2021. As regional manager, he oversaw livestock buying stations in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. He also personally counted, classified and weighed swine at these stations.
Bickerstaff personally lowered the weights, numbers and classifications of hogs producers delivered to the dealer’s buying stations, or directed others to fraudulently to do, said the U.S. Attorney’s office. He also manipulated hog weights manually or by using a crowbar, paddle or other object to defeat the electronic scales on which the hogs were weighed and created fraudulent “sort sheets” and scale tickets for producers’ hogs for transmission to the dealer’s headquarters. Read more here.
In addition to the six-month prison term, Bickerstaff will serve three years of supervised release, KIWA Radio reports. There is no parole in the federal system.
