Cattle farmer sentenced to prison after fraud investigation

Judge CJ Williams sentenced Robert Harry Bickerstaff, 52, of Rock Rapids, to six months in prison for wire fraud during a June 24 hearing in U.S. District Court for Northern Iowa.

Bickerstaff is the fifth Lynch Livestock executive to plead guilty to allegations related to the fraud.

Bickerstaff was a regional manager for Lynch in Waucoma and a pork producer himself. He has a degree in agricultural economics and was awarded the 2022 “Hog Wild” award by the Iowa Pork Producers Association for his role in promoting pork in Lyon County.

At Lynch, Bickerstaff supervised cattle buying stations in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota and occasionally personally graded and weighed hogs at the stations.

The company had been the subject of government investigations in the past for manipulating cattle weights and classifications and had received a consent decree from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2017.

The public prosecutor’s office accuses Bickerstaff of having instructed staff at purchasing stations from 2018 to 2021 to reduce the classification of pigs delivered by producers and sellers, to manipulate electronic scales with crowbars and to create fraudulent “sorting sheets” and weighing certificates.

This meant that Lynch Livestock paid the sellers less than they were entitled to.

When Bickerstaff learned of a possible investigation in 2021, he instructed employees to destroy reports containing his name and sent an email to the company’s owner saying he had met with the company’s attorney.

“I told him about some things that were being done at some of my stations that dated back to (another manager’s) time. Some of these things were being done to keep margins at the company’s expected levels. … I am not proud that I did not change these practices sooner, but I cannot change my past mistakes,” the email said, according to court documents. He resigned a few days later.

In February 2023, the company, now known as Lynch Family Companies, was sentenced to five years’ probation, a $196,000 fine, and ordered to pay $3 million in restitution for failing to comply with an order from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture as part of a settlement.

Other persons charged in the investigation include:

• Billie Joe Wickham of Waucoma pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and was sentenced to six months in prison and a $3,000 fine.
• Charlie Lynch of Fort Atkinson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and was sentenced to five years probation and a $3,000 fine.
• Leland “Pete” Blue of Fredericksburg pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and was sentenced to five years probation and a $1,000 fine.
• Tyler Thoms of Fayette pleaded guilty to causing a cattle dealer to keep false records and was sentenced to one year of probation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Vavricek and investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, and the FBI.