Ravenna man sentenced for bank fraud in sheep breeding operation
OMAHA, Neb. (KSNB) - A federal judge has sentenced a Ravenna man for bank fraud in a sheep breeding operation.
U.S. District Judge John Gerrard sentenced Brooks Duester, 44, to five years of federal probation and 10 weekends of intermittent confinement, to be served within one year.
In addition, the judge ordered Duester to pay full restitution to Ashton State Bank in the amount of $569,332.80.
Previously, Duester pled guilty on April 12, 2022, to defrauding Ashton State Bank by misrepresenting to the bank the number of sheep in his breeding operation and misrepresenting that sheep died of various natural causes when in reality Duester sold the sheep and kept the sales proceeds for himself instead of repaying his bank loans. The sheep were the collateral for the bank loans. Duester falsely claimed to have up to 4,941 sheep at one point in the scheme, and then falsely claimed less than six months later that the number had fallen to 3,857 sheep due to the sheep dying from various causes.
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service.
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