Former Deere employee pleads guilty in Iowa fraud case

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (AP) - A former Deere and Company employee from Iowa has admitted to defrauding the Illinois-based company out of at least $250,000 over a nine-year period.

The Quad-City Times reports (http://bit.ly/2foJvdh ) that 63-year-old Harvey Ulfers of Cedar Falls, Iowa pleaded guilty Thursday to various wire fraud and money laundering charges.

Ulfers' attorney, Donovan Robertson, says his client is likely to receive between 21 and 27 months in prison when he is sentenced in March in U.S. District Court in Rock Island.

A co-defendant, 46-year-old Patrick W. Williams of Cedar Falls, pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy charge in April.

Authorities say Ulfers used his position as a purchasing supervisor to create and approve fraudulent documents which allowed significantly undervalued scrap metal to leave his Waterloo facility.