Former grain elevator owner admits mail fraud
EAST ST. LOUIS — Sentencing will be next spring for a former southwestern Illinois grain elevator owner who has pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud.
Forty-seven-year-old John Kniepmann of Breese pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to two counts of mail fraud.
Federal prosecutors say Kniepmann admitted he fraudulently increased by more than $34,000 an insurance claim regarding a 2006 fire at his Consolidated Exchange business in Clinton County. He also admitted he defrauded a financial institution by selling $87,000 worth of grain that was collateral for a loan taken out by his businesses, then hiding the sale.
Kniepmann faces up to 40 years in prison and as much as a $500,000 fine when sentenced March 26.
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