Coggon Farmer Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for Bank Fraud

A hog farmer who defrauded a northeast Iowa bank out of almost $7 million was sentenced on Thursday, June 21, 2012, to more than eight years in federal prison.

David LeClere, age 59, from Coggon, Iowa, received the prison term after a March 12, 2012 guilty plea to one count of bank fraud.

At the plea hearing and in a written plea agreement, LeClere admitted engaging in a scheme to defraud a northeast Iowa bank from approximately March 2007 through May 2009. LeClere admitted he defrauded the bank by knowingly providing the bank with false information each month, falsely inflating the number and weight of his hogs, and falsely inflating his accounts receivable by reporting that packing plants owed him more money than they did. LeClere further admitted defrauding the bank by redepositing on multiple occasions checks he had received as payment from packing plants. The bank lost at least $6.9 million through the fraudulent scheme.

LeClere was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. LeClere was sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed, and he was ordered to make $8,274,887.69 in restitution to the victim bank. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

LeClere is being held in the United States Marshals custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney C.J. Williams and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.