Sentence handed down to Fresno man who stole $5M in crops for lavish lifestyle
A Fresno man was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $2 million in restitution on Monday for his part in a fraud scheme to sell stolen crops from international food processors, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Richard Best, 72, of Fresno pleaded guilty in October and was sentenced for his part in stealing $4.8 million worth of canola, which was meant to be used as livestock feed, and sold it from 2015 to 2017, according to court documents.
His co-conspirator Shawn Sawa, 49, of Clovis pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Dec. 8 to 18 months in prison.
The pair used Best’s defunct transportation company with access to trains and trucks, Transfer Inc., to move the goods, prosecutors said. They stole “hundreds of thousands of tons” of canola from food processors that the company was supposed to move for those customers.
They sold the canola through an acquaintance in Texas, prosecutors said, to farms and dairies and divided the money. They used wire transfers and bank accounts, including one in the name of Sawa’s spouse, to hide the scheme, according to prosecutors.
Best gave a cellphone to Sawa that once belonged to his deceased mother in an attempt to avoid detection, court documents said.
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.
