Kansas Man Pleads Guilty to Hay Scam

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- A Kansas man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud tens of thousands of dollars from ranchers in Montana and Wyoming who were looking for hay supplies for their cattle during the 2021 drought, according to court documents and information from the U.S. attorney's office.

Jory D. Parks, 43, of Logan, Kansas, was arraigned on and pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in Billings. Parks faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Drought in the summer of 2021 created a hay shortage for ranchers in Montana and Wyoming. According to court documents, Parks advertised on Facebook that he was selling large amounts of hay and was willing to deliver to Montana and Wyoming from out of state.

Parks, operating as Heart Cross Ranch, LLC, received money from customers in exchange for promises to deliver hay.

"Instead, Parks used the money for unrelated business and personal expenses and made false promises about what he would deliver and the scale and success of his business," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana.

"In September 2021, when Parks was trying to convince a prospective customer that he had a successful business selling high-quality hay, he told the victim that he had sold all his hay the previous year to a known horse-racing facility in Nebraska to feed racehorses. After interviewing the CEO of the facility and analyzing Parks' financials, the FBI determined that Parks' statements were false."

A ranching business owned by a couple in Ingomar, Montana, responded to one of Parks' Facebook ads in which he claimed to be selling hay cheaper than they had been able to find.

The couple signed a contract with Parks to buy 190 tons of hay from Parks for $43,300 and mailed half of the amount, $21,650, as a down payment to Heart Cross Ranch, according to the attorney's office.

"Parks deposited the check into his business account in a bank in Colorado," according to a news release.

"Three weeks later, Parks delivered the couple's first shipment of 23 tons of the 190 tons they had purchased but never delivered the additional hay or repaid the remainder of the down payment."

According to court documents, Parks continued the scheme in Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska through December 2021.

Parks has agreed to make "complete restitution" in the case, according to a plea agreement reached in the case. He was released from jail on July 18 pending sentencing.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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