Two Sentenced For Massive Crop Insurance Fraud Scheme

Two men who facilitated millions of dollars worth of fraud in crop insurance in Central Kentucky have been sentenced to federal prison.

Michael McNew, a former insurance adjuster and agent in Mount Sterling, was sentenced to seven years and two months in federal prison.

The sentence also makes McNew liable for $10.5 million in restitution to a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and an additional $9 million to ARMTech Insurance Services, a private insurance company defrauded in the conspiracy.

In a related case, U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell sentenced Roger Wilson, former owner of Clay’s Tobacco Warehouse in Mount Sterling, to 12 months in prison. Wilson could be ordered to pay restitution but the amount has not yet been determined.

McNew, 51, and Wilson, 88, were charged in an investigation that has uncovered what a federal prosecutor called a ‘staggering’ level of fraud in an insurance program that is supposed to be a safety net for farmers whose crops are damaged or fall short because of bad weather.