South Dakota farmers told not to comment after guilty pleas in H&I grain fraud case
Jared Steffensen of the Arlington, S.D., area, pleaded guilty to theft by deception in his H&I Grain Inc. business, at a June 29, 2021, hearing at the Beadle County, S.D., courthouse at Huron. He speculated on grain trades, and then failed to pay millions to farmers. He and his wife, Tami, could face five years in the state penitentiary. His mother, JoAnn also pleaded guilty to a felony of failing to inform state regulators that her company was failing financially. 8:57 pm, Jun. 29, 2021 ×
South Dakota Attorney General lawyers extracted guilty pleas from Jared, Tami and JoAnn Steffensen of Arlington, S.D., for felonies related to conspiring to mislead farmers and grain regulators. Their H&I Grain Inc. stole millions from farmers in 2016 to 2017, as they tried to cover up Jared’s grain speculation losses. Photo taken June 6, 2019 in Huron, S.D.
What other explanation could there be for an $860 charge from Crooks Municipal Gas?
When she finally got in touch with someone there, she was told that there was no leak. Gas prices skyrocketed in February as much of the country struggled through a cold snap. It was just shocking, Mekvold said. Heads up! she tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. I just got my gas bill in Renner, SD. Because of the Texas fiasco, the supplier is charging more and so is my gas company. My bill is $860 instead of $240. So, I have many calls to make and emails to send.
Butch Oseby, the mayor of Crooks, said the city was faced with a gas cost of about $540,000 for the month of February. A normal winter month might be between $80,000 and $100,000, he said noting that the majority of that came from just three days.