Kentucky farmers lied on crop insurance policies to boost payouts, grand jury alleges [Lexington Herald-Leader]

Two Central Kentucky farmers lied on crop-insurance policies to get payouts, a federal grand jury has charged.

The grand jury indicted Randall D. Taulbee and James McDonald on three charges each of making false statements and two charges each of conspiring to commit an offense against the United States.

The indictment also charged Cherie Lynn Noble with conspiring with the two men — her brother and brother-in-law — and making a false statement to a federal officer investigating the alleged insurance fraud.

Taulbee and McDonald owned and rented farm land in Bourbon and Nicholas counties and grew tobacco and corn during the time at issue in the indictment, which alleges a conspiracy between the two from March 2013 through November 2017.

Taulbee allegedly falsely said he was a new producer one year, which has advantages under insurance policies. He also allegedly incorrectly reported the number of acres of tobacco he grew and submitted false expenses.

The indictment charges that McDonald falsely reported the number of acres of tobacco he grew one year, reported a fake loss on his tobacco crop in 2015 from hail, and filed false expenses.

The purpose of the conspiracy was “to profit or to avoid oversight through misrepresenting shares on crop insurance policies and under-reporting crop production,” the indictment alleges.

The scheme included selling corn in the name of McDonald’s son in the 2013 and 2015 crop years.

McDonald and Taulbee split the proceeds, but neither reported the production on insurance claims, which resulted in a larger payout they shared, the indictment charges.

The two also put information in claims that they were the sole owners of tobacco crops, when actually they were sharing the costs, according to the indictment.

Noble allegedly obtained insurance in her name on tobacco crops in Bourbon County in 2015 and 2016 that were actually owned by Taulbee and McDonald, and gave them most of the money paid out under damage claims.

When Jeffrey Monnin, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, talked to Noble in March 2018, she allegedly told him she was raising tobacco and was not related to Taulbee.

That was false because Taulbee is her brother and she knew he and McDonald raised tobacco under her name, the indictment charges.

If the three are convicted, the government wants judgments against them for the amount the received as a result of the fraud: $182,331 from Taulbee; $207,754 from McDonald; and $3,028 from Noble.

More than 20 people in Central Kentucky have been convicted in recent years in crop-insurance cases involving millions of dollars in fraud altogether. Those included farmers, an insurance agent and people associated with a tobacco warehouse.

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