Grainnet

Springfield, IL-–The Illinois Department of Agriculture has recovered $131,000 from the owner of a defunct Washington County grain elevator.

The money, obtained in a bankruptcy court judgment against Will David Whipple, owner of the former Ashley Elevator, has been deposited in the Illinois Grain Insurance Fund, a state-backed program that insures grain depositors against losses from elevator failures.

“The recovery of this money nearly three years after the elevator closed demonstrates the lengths to which our Bureau of Warehouses will go to protect the interests of Illinois farmers,” Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke said.

“It also demonstrates the bureau’s commitment to enforcing the Illinois Grain Code and preserving the financial integrity of our grain industry.”

Whipple voluntarily surrendered his Illinois grain dealer and warehouse licenses on Aug. 12, 2002.

The department then seized and sold the elevator’s $118,000 in grain assets.

Insured losses incurred by 103 grain producers and depositors, however, totaled $881,000, requiring a withdrawal from the Grain Insurance Fund to pay valid claims.

Whipple was convicted in August of 2003 in Washington County Circuit Court of eight felony offenses related to his elevator’s failure, including unlawful disposal of grain, falsifying grain receipts, filing false and misleading records with the Illinois Department of Agriculture and failure to maintain sufficient assets.

He was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $998,000 restitution — $778,000 to the Grain Insurance Fund and $220,000 to creditors with uninsured losses.

The $131,000 recovered resulted from the liquidation of non-grain assets as ordered by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

It raises the balance in the Grain Insurance Fund to more than $2.3 million.

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