North Carolina Agent, Farmer Sentenced for Crop Insurance Fraud

Two North Carolina men have been sentenced for their roles in a massive crop insurance fraud.

A federal judge last Wednesday sentenced insurance agent William Larry Rogers to 9 years in prison for conspiring to make false statements, to make material false statements, to commit mail and wire fraud, and to obstruction of justice. The 69-year-old Mebane man was also ordered to pay $8.4 million in restitution, the amount prosecutors say he received in fraudulent federal crop insurance payments.

Richard Enoch of Mebane received one day in prison, followed by 6 months of house arrest, plus $58,000 in restitution and a $5,000 fine. Prosecutors say the 68-year-old tobacco farmer filed false insurance claims for lost crops that were actually harvested and sold. Rogers was Enoch’s insurance agent.