A rural Chillicothe farmer who pled guilty to his part in a scheme that involved $142 million dollars in grain sales for grain that was sold as organic has been sentenced. Fifty-seven-year-old Steven Whiteside pled guilty in December, to signing a document that allowed co-conspirator Randy Constant to misrepresent conventionally grown crops as higher-priced organic grain.
While federal prosecutors recommended a sentence of 1 year in prison, one year of probation, and a fine of $55,000, Federal Magistrate Judge Jill A. Morris sentenced Whiteside in a Kansas City courtroom to three years probation and a $45,000 fine.
Court records show four other farmers involved in the scheme received prison sentences.
