Beaver Dam farmer charged with crop insurance fraud

A federal grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday charging a Beaver Dam farmer with nine counts of crop insurance fraud, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney James L. Santelle of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Jeffrey Lewke, 37, operated a large farming operation, farming as many as 12,000 acres in Wisconsin during 2011 and 2012.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, provides insurance to farmers for unavoidable crop losses. The FCIC provides insurance by reinsuring private crop insurance companies for losses claimed by their policy holders.

According to the indictment, from 2009 through 2013, Lewke knowingly devised and executed a scheme to defraud a crop insurance company that was reinsured by the FCIC in a number of ways.

Lewke was charged after a long-term investigation by the USDA-Office of Inspector General.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.