McBee Sentenced to 3.5 Years in Prison

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Ag reality television star and Missouri farmer Steve A. McBee was sentenced to 41 months in prison on Thursday and ordered to pay $4 million in restitution, after pleading guilty to crop insurance fraud committed on his farm in Gallatin, Missouri.

The 53-year-old star of the reality television series "The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys," runs the farm along with sons Steve Jr., Cole, Jesse and Brayden.

In all, McBee was ordered on Thursday to pay $4 million in restitution to the USDA's Risk Management Agency. He previously agreed to pay about $3.2 million in a money judgement that represents his gain from the fraud. In addition, the court imposed two years of supervised release once the prison sentence is complete.

McBee was ordered to surrender to authorities on Dec. 1, 2025, according to the court's sentence. The court recommended his prison sentence be served at a federal prison in Yankton, South Dakota.

Attorneys for McBee asked the court to sustain his objection to a proposal to give him one criminal history point in sentencing guidelines for a $150 traffic infraction. According to the government's memorandum, McBee was convicted in 2019 for consumption of alcohol while driving and had asked for a sentence of supervised release.

The court overruled McBee's objection on that point.

If the court had sustained McBee's objection to the government's sentencing request, the court would have been able to find that he's a "zero-point offender" and essentially lower the sentence below sentencing guidelines, according to pre-sentencing documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

McBee admitted he engaged in "fraudulent activity" from 2018 to 2020 that caused an economic loss to USDA.

In addition, McBee and McBee Family Farms defaulted on a $1.3 million loan with Rabo Agrifinance LLC, according to a judgment filed in the Circuit Court of Daviess County in the 43rd Judicial Circuit in Missouri on Aug. 13, 2025.

Rabo first entered the judgment of default in Iowa District Court in Black Hawk County on June 25, 2025.

In addition, U.S. attorneys filed a notice and bill of particulars for the forfeiture of property with the court on Aug. 29, requiring McBee to forfeit three wrist watches. According to DTN's research, the watches may be valued anywhere from $23,700 to more than $1 million.

The property includes a Tag Heuer Formula 1 watch, a Tag Heuer Grand Carrera watch and a Rolex Daytona watch.

The federal government is seeking the forfeiture of all property derived from proceeds traceable to the crop insurance fraud committed by McBee, who reached a plea agreement in the case.

It was revealed during the second season of "The McBee Dynasty" that the farm was carrying debt of about $70 million.

It was reported on Thursday by other news outlets that the show would air for a third season.

Read more on DTN:

"US: Sentence McBee to 41 Months Prison," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

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

Follow him on social platform X @DTNeeley

(c) Copyright 2025 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.