Ex-Minnesota Elevator Manager Pleads Guilty in $5M Swindle

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The former manager of a western Minnesota grain elevator has pleaded guilty in a swindle that cost his employer millions of dollars.

Fifty-six-year-old Jerry Hennessey of Dalton pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of mail fraud and tax evasion.

Hennessey was accused in a 15-year scheme to defraud the Ashby Farmers' Co-Operative Elevator Co. in Ashby, Minnesota. Prosecutors say he used the money to pay for exotic hunting trips, buy real estate and credit card debt.

Reports say Hennessey obtained a line of credit of about $7 million for the co-op by misrepresenting the amount of grain it had in storage. He then used that account to cover the illegal expenditures estimated by prosecutors at about $5.3 million.

The law requires Hennessey to pay restitution. His home is on the market for nearly $800,000.

Sentencing is set for June 13.