Federal judge sentences California farmer to 2 1/2 years in prison
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A federal judge sentenced Stockton-area farmer Gregory P. Torlai Jr. to serve two and a half years in prison for deceiving the government by filing fraudulent crop insurance claims to collect at least $340,000 from a taxpayer-backed insurance program set up to help farmers survive when nature destroys crops.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez in Sacramento also ordered that Torlai serve three years of supervised release and pay a $10,000 fine and $211,516 in restitution.
Torlai, 50, could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
[Updated at 7:40 p.m.: “The federal crop insurance program is a vital mechanism for protecting American farmers from unforeseen natural events. By protecting that program, we protect the livelihood of American farmers,’ U.S. Atty. Benjamin B. Wagner said in a statement Wednesday evening.]
In February, Torlai was found guilty of 16 counts of making false statements in a scheme to trick three private insurance companies and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Federal Crop Insurance Corp., which runs the federal crop insurance program.
Document: Gregory Torlai’s full federal sentence
The jury found that Torlai had lied about how many seeds he’d bought and the number of acres of wheat, safflower and other crops he’d planted in Lassen, San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties. Insurance adjusters and federal inspectors, who looked into Torlai’s benefit claims, had found fields with boulders, knee-high sagebrush and garbage pits -- but no signs of ruined crops.
Torlai and his defense team, arguing that the defendant had previously agreed to pay $400,000 in connection to civil false claims, had sought a lesser prison sentence of one year and one day. In a hand-written letter to Mendez, Torlai wrote, “I am truly sorry for what is seen by you as a lack of remorse. Nothing could be farther from the truth.”
But according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento, Mendez said in court Wednesday the sentence was designed to “send a message to others who are thinking of committing similar crimes.”
Torlai is scheduled to report to federal marshals Aug. 18. The Federal Bureau of Prisons will determine at which detention facility Torlai will serve his sentence.
--P.J. Huffstutter
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Document: Gregory Torlai’s full federal sentence
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