FRESNO — A Patterson man pleaded guilty Friday to taking part in a $3.5 million scheme to defraud almond growers and handlers, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported.
Randal Alfred Burtis, 50, former general manager of Westside Hulling in Westley, was one of three defendants accused of diverting almonds and selling them for their own gain, as well as receiving money for nuts that were never delivered.
Burtis entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Fresno and will return for sentencing by Judge Lawrence O'Neill on Dec. 16. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The plea was to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and bank fraud because the transactions involved the postal and banking systems. Other charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Stanislaus County authorities arrested Burtis in 2007. The U.S. Attorney's Office later took over the case, and a federal grand jury last year indicted Burtis and other defendants.
One of them, Ronald John Salado of Modesto, was a buyer for an unidentified processor in Turlock, the indictment said. The other, Robert Morris Adams of Turlock, managed an unidentified plant in Merced County, the document said.
A fourth man, Jason M. Espinola of Hughson, is accused of bank fraud for his role in depositing checks with forged endorsements.
Salado, Adams and Espinola are scheduled for trial in Fresno starting Sept. 6.
The indictment said the fraud took place between 2000 and 2007.
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