Hughson man admits guilt in almond fraud

A Hughson man has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of bank fraud for his part in a $3.5 million scheme to defraud almond growers and handlers, the U.S. attorney's office announced Friday.

Jason Espinola, 30, was convicted of depositing checks with forged endorsements. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16, and he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and up to five years of probation. He entered his plea Thursday.

Espinola and three co- defendants sold stolen almonds to a nut processing company under the fictitious business name "Southfork Ranch" between August 2000 and February 2002, according to the plea agreement.

The nut processing company was told Southfork Ranch was owned by several growers, including Espinola.

The defendants, however, never grew almonds or had a business to sell almonds. Prosecutors said the other purported owners of Southfork Ranch were phony names and one real identity used without the person's knowledge or permission.

The nut processor paid a total of nearly $160,000 to the fake Southfork Ranch company. Prosecutors said Espinola admitted he cashed some of the payment checks with forged endorsements at various banks.

Co-defendant Randal Alfred Burtis of Patterson pleaded guilty June 24 to conspiring to commit mail fraud and bank fraud for his role in the broader scheme to defraud the almond growers and nut processors of about $3.5 million between 2000 and 2007.

Burtis, a former general manager of Westside Hulling in Westley, also is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16. He faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Stanislaus County sheriff's officials arrested Burtis in 2007, and the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento later took over the case.

A federal grand jury last year indicted Burtis and the other defendants. Two remaining defendants are scheduled for trial Oct. 31.

One of them, Ronald John Salado of Modesto, was a buyer for an unidentified processor in Turlock, the indictment says. The other, Robert Morris Adams of Turlock, managed an unidentified plant in Merced County, according to the document.

Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or (209) 578-2394.