Man pleads guilty to stealing $5M in canola crop in California. He bought homes, feds say
A man with ties to Clovis faces 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to stealing almost $5 million worth of canola crop, federal prosecutors said.
Shawn Sawa, 47, formerly of Clovis, was involved in a scheme over about two years beginning in 2015 to sell $4.8 million of canola, which is a crop used for oil and livestock feed, to buyers out of Fresno County, prosecutors said.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud in U.S. Eastern District Court of California. His sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 11, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Sawa carried out the scheme with Richard Best, a Fresno man who owned a company called RBT that was used to transport the product from train to truck, prosecutors allege. The trucking company is now defunct.
The men used the stolen money to cover Best’s operating expenses, purchase luxury homes and multiple vehicles, take trips and hire private karate teachers, among other expenses, court records say.
Best has maintained his innocence, his attorney Jeff Hammerschmidt previously said. He says Best was the victim of extortion from Sawa, who threatened to cut off future business dealings with his employer, Archer Daniels Midland.
Best previously filed a lawsuit against ADM and Sawa, alleging fraud, breach of contract and negligent interference with a contract.
Best’s former company, RBT, was known in the industry as a transloading company, which meant it specialized in transferring bulk commodities, like canola, between modes of transportation.
Prosecutors allege both men sold the pilfered canola through an acquaintance in Texas who used to work in the livestock feed industry. The acquaintance sold the stolen canola to farms and dairies, and distributed the proceeds according to Best’s instructions. That included wire transfers to RBT, Best and Sawa’s bank accounts.
The account that Sawa used was opened in his spouse’s name to try to conceal the scheme, prosecutors said in court records.
In order to cover their tracks, the men would send fraudulent inventory reports to the victims, lying about how much inventory they had in stock, prosecutors allege.
When the owners of the canola began to ask about missing product, the men would say the product they had stolen was destroyed by bad weather, prosecutors said.
Sawa faces a penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the conspiracy and wire fraud counts. Best would face the same if convicted.
