A Fresno County farmer was sentenced Monday to one year in prison for conspiring to commit crop insurance fraud, federal authorities said.
Jatinderjeet “Jyoti” Sihota, 40, of Selma, was sentenced after admitting to her role in a scheme that defrauded insurance companies out of more than $650,000, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.
According to court records, Sihota became involved with her family’s farming business, which produced table grapes and other crops in Fresno and Tulare counties, beginning in 2012.
Over the next four years, prosecutors said, she and Ralph Hackett, 69, of Clovis, falsified records to underreport crop sales to a fruit packing company managed by Hackett.
The fake records made it appear as if the farm had suffered major crop losses, allowing them to collect insurance payouts they were not entitled to, officials said.
Emails and other evidence revealed that the scheme was Sihota’s idea. Prosecutors said she directed Hackett to make specific alterations to sales records and urged him to keep the fraud secret.
She also contacted other fruit brokers requesting similar alterations, but they refused, according to investigators.
Hackett was charged separately and has pleaded guilty. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the Department of Justice said.
Source - https://gvwire.com
