A judge has sentenced a Texas couple to seven years in prison after they took $1.5 million from ranchers in Colorado and six other states in a fraud scheme and then bought a boat to sail to the Bahamas.
District Judge Philip Brimmer also sentenced Donald Winberg, 44, and his wife Karlien, 33, to three years of supervised release following prison.
The Winbergs pleaded guilty to fraud charges after selling thousands of tons of alfalfa hay they didn’t actually have to farmers across the West. They claimed to own vast amounts of farmland.
“I am not a monster although I portrayed myself as one,” Donald Winberg wrote in a letter to the judge read in court by his attorney. The letter asked Brimmer for leniency so he could return to his family.
He apologized to his victims in the letter, while admitting he was the mastermind of a scheme to rip off farmers.
Karlien Winberg covered her face and began sobbing and shaking after Brimmer declined her request to get a lighter sentence. Brimmer said she was equally as culpable.
After a grand jury indicted the couple on wire fraud and conspiracy charges in April 2014, they fled their home and continued to scam other farmers before buying two sailboats, according to court records.
Three victims testified about their losses, claiming they had to sell farm equipment, mortgage tractors and borrow more money to cover their losses.
Justin Solberg, 30, of Nebraska said that because he lost nearly $60,000, he and his wife postponed having another child.
“I believe you can shake a man’s hand to make a deal,” said Wyoming rancher Jim Koltiska, who said he also lost nearly . “We’re living on borrowed money. My daughter is going to a community college instead of a university. … For the rest of my life I won’t trust anybody any more.”
David Justman, a Van, Texas, livestock rancher, said he will be paying back what he lost for the next 15 years. He said he never cheated anyone in all his business dealings.
“If a man’s word is not worth anything, neither is he,” Justman said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kirkmitchell
