Former Illinois Grain Elevator Owner Gets 15 Months
A former southwestern Illinois grain elevator owner has been sentenced to a year and three months in federal prison for committing mail fraud.
Forty-eight-year-old John Kniepmann of Breese also was ordered in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to repay more than $108,000.
Kniepmann pleaded guilty in December to two counts of mail fraud.
Federal prosecutors say Kniepmann admitted he fraudulently increased an insurance claim by more than $34,000. The claim dealt with a 2006 fire at his Consolidated Exchange business in Clinton County.
He also admitted he defrauded a financial institution by selling $87,000 worth of grain that was collateral for a loan taken out by his businesses, then hiding the sale.
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