WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A northwestern Kansas man has been convicted of selling cattle that were mortgaged to the Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency and keeping the money.
The U.S. Attorney’s office says 26-year-old Travis L. Siebert, of Colby, was found guilty by a jury Tuesday of one count of conversion of mortgaged property.
Prosecutors say Siebert received three loans totaling $115,000 to purchase a bull, 60 cows and 90 feeder calves. He fell behind on loan payments in 2007 with about $84,000 left to repay.
The government says that Siebert schemed to sell the livestock from 2007 to 2010 under the names of at least three other people, and created a corporation to sell cattle.
Sentencing was set for April 2. He faces up to five years in prison.