FRANKFORT — A Fleming County magistrate has been sentenced to 66 months in prison for crop insurance and tax fraud.
Chris Hickerson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit crop insurance and tax fraud in 2019.
Under federal law, Hickerson must serve 85 percent of his sentence. Once released from prison, he will be under the supervision of a probation officer for three years.
He also must pay restitution that will later be determined.
Fleming County Judge-Executive Larry Foxworthy said he is not prepared to comment on Hickerson’s sentencing or position as a magistrate.
He said he will consult with the county attorney early next week about the situation.
“When the indictment came down and the plea was entered, it was understood that he could retain his position until his sentencing,” Foxworthy said. “However, there is an appeal process and this is just a new situation for us. The county attorney is out this week, but we will be discussing this next week.”
Kentucky’s Constitution, Section 150 provides that “all persons shall be disqualified from serving in public office that have been convicted of a felony offense or shall be convicted of a felony offense while serving in office. When a county constitutional officer is convicted of a felony offense during the course of his term, he becomes disqualified from maintaining public office and is subject to “ouster” from office as he has become what’s called a “usurper” of public office.”
It is the commonwealth’s attorney who is responsible for the ouster, according to the Constitution.
Foxworthy said Hickerson has served as a magistrate for 18 years.
According to the plea agreement, Hickerson admitted to misrepresenting his federal crop insurance paperwork from 2009 to 2016 “for the purpose of getting money from the federal government that he was not entitled to receive.”
United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Kentucky Robert M. Duncan said Hickerson admitted to producing more tobacco crop than he reported to his insurance company by hiding the tobacco through means of selling it under another person’s name or not reporting it to the insurance adjuster.
“In his plea agreement, Hickerson acknowledged that in Crop Year 2014, he accomplished this through an agreement, with Debra Muse and another individual identified as R.W., to obtain fake grade sheets and tobacco sales receipts from Clay’s Tobacco Warehouse, which he could submit to his insurance adjuster. Hickerson admitted that the grade sheets – which showed that his tobacco was no-grade or low-grade – were for tobacco that either did not exist or did not belong to him. Hickerson further admitted to failing to report all of his tobacco sales on his tax returns in 2012, 2013, and 2015,” Duncan said.
Hickerson was first indicted in September 2018 on 10 counts related to the fraud. A superseding indictment, adding two counts was handed down in July 2019.
He was indicted on 12 counts related to acts that took place between 2009 and 2017. The indictment was seeking judgment of more than $1 million from Hickerson as that is the amount he was believed to have obtained from the crop insurance fraud.
In the plea agreement from Dec. 9, Hickerson pleaded guilty to the 12 counts in the superseding indictment. In the agreement, he agreed to a voluntary, five-year exclusion from participating or receiving benefits from any federal procurement or non-procurement transaction.
Muse, who was named in Hickerson’s plea agreement, was sentenced in the case in September 2019. Muse received 60 months imprisonment and must participate in a mental health program, according to court documents.
Muse entered a guilty plea in April for helping some tobacco farmers misrepresent their crops through the government-backed crop insurance program.
Muse was employed as a seasonal worker at Clay’s Tobacco Warehouse in Mount Sterling where tobacco was accepted for purchase and resale. She was also a crop insurance agent.
In connection with her job at the warehouse, Muse entered information into a computer program that tracked the purchase, sale and shipment of tobacco. In her work as an insurance agent, Muse secured policies for her clients. Those multiple co-conspiring farmers, according to court records, “at the urging of and with help” from Muse, filed false claims.
The co-conspirators profited under the scam because they were paid twice for each pound of tobacco — once through the fake insurance claim and also through the sale of the unreported hidden tobacco, the indictment said.
