Local farmer going to prison in $1.6M insurance fraud case

The Taylor County man convicted of crop insurance fraud has been sentenced to 12 months plus one day in federal prison plus a fine of $250,000.

The federal court sentence also requires Robert "Robbie" Thomas Hunt, 61, of Campbellsville, to make restitution by repaying $1,686,002 to the federal government.

According to court documents, Hunt was convicted March 27 of committing crop insurance fraud from 2014 through 2021. Between 2014 and 2021, Hunt Farms reportedly sold crops under the names of other people and significantly underreported his true production on crop insurance claim forms, resulting in more than $1.6 million in fraudulent insurance overpayments.

According to the charge, Hunt claimed losses on soybeans and corn crops between 2015 and 2021 as well as one crop of wheat.

The policies required reporting all production, but Hunt told grain haulers to sell his crops under the names of his two children, his wife and another landowner, according to information associated with his guilty plea. That action disguised the true production and allowed Hunt to collect higher insurance payouts, according to the court documents.

Hunt used different addresses for his children to help conceal his sales, the document said.

Upon his release from prison, Hunt also will face two years of supervised release. He will be required to serve the entire 366-day term because there is no parole in the federal system.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, and Risk Management Agency, Special Investigations Staff.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weiser prosecuted the case. U.S. Attorney Kyle G. Bumgarner of the Western District of Kentucky and Special Agent in Charge Miles Davis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General made the announcement about the Aug. 26 sentencing in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green.