Former Chillicothe resident Randy Constant was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison as the mastermind of what the judge called “the largest known organic food fraud scheme in U.S. history.” A federal judge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa handed down the 122-month sentence of Constant on Friday. The Associated Press reported Judge C.J.Williams said Constant “orchestrated a massive fraud that did ‘extreme and incalculable damage’ to consumers and shook public confidence in the nation’s organic food industry.”
Constant’s co-conspirators, farmers in Nebraska were given shorter sentences. The Judge sentenced 41-year-old Michael Potter to serve 24 months behind bars; 41-year-old James Brennan was sentenced to 20 months; and his father, 71-year-old Tom Brennan, was given a three-month sentence. Williams said the shorter sentence for the elder Brennan reflected his heroism as a decorated platoon leader in the Vietnam War.
