ASHLEY, N.D. - A South Dakota cattle feedlot operator has been ordered to serve 180 days in jail for writing a bad check to a North Dakota cattle buyer.
Robert "Bob" Blom, 58, on Monday, Sept. 16, pleaded guilty to Class C felony issuing check or draft without sufficient funds or credit.
South East District Judge Cherie Clark sentenced Blom to five years in the custody of the North Dakota Department of Corrections, with all but 180 days suspended, says McIntosh County State's Attorney Mary Depuydt. She says Clark also ordered that Blom will be on supervised probation for three years, followed by five years of unsupervised probation. Blom can have work release if the facility where he serves his sentence agrees to allow it, Depuydt says.
Depuydt and Blom's appointed defense attorney, Kim Radermacher, requested Blom be allowed to serve his sentence in the Faulk County Jail in Faulkton, S.D. A brief in support of the motion says Blom is working for "Jim Ditterman's enterprise" in Faulk County, and the attorneys asked that Blom serve there "so to provide the Defendant with an opportunity to maintain his current employment."
Blom formerly operated a feedlot in Corsica, S.D. First Dakota National Bank, based in Yankton, S.D., with a branch in Corsica, in February determined Blom owed principal of $6.74 million to the bank, with additional interest at more than $1,000 per day. The bank foreclosed, and officials discovered Blom may have been operating a Ponzi-like scheme in which he would resell the same cattle over and over again and collect feeding bills from customers on what often were non-existent cattle. Court documents list 53 people in 14 cattle-related entities in South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana as "interested party defendants." Officials believe the case could involve 30,000 head of "missing" or phantom cattle, valued at more than $30 million. Lewis Dirks, the emergency receiver appointed by the court in the civil case, declined to comment on the status of the case on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
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Paul Gader, a Lehr, N.D., cattle buyer, runs Gader Livestock, which court documents say bought 146 heifers and 120 steers for Blom's feedlots for $269,674.26. Blom's check to pay Gader for the purchase bounced. About half of the funds came from a "feeding partner" for Blom, whom Gader has declined to identify citing advice from his attorney. But the remaining funds remained unpaid, resulting in the felony check charge out of McIntosh County.
Blom on Monday was ordered to pay $134,837.14 in restitution to Gader Livestock. Depuydt says Blom will be on a $275-per-month payment plan. Gader did not return a call left seeking comment.
Depuydt says the Gaders were the only victims in McIntosh County of whom she is aware. No other criminal or civil cases against Blom are open in North Dakota. But Blom's legal problems are not over. Craig Parkhurst, Douglas County, S.D., State's Attorney, says a felony non-sufficient funds check charge is pending in his county, though Blom has not made any appearances in that case.
"Currently, that is all, although there will probably be more in the future," Parkhurst says.
While he knows of no other charges filed in South Dakota, Parkhurst says investigations are continuing in the case.
