Mail fraud lands Columbus man in prison for five months

COLUMBUS, Neb. -- Five months in prison was given to a Columbus man following his mail fraud conviction.

Acting U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr said 66-yar-old Jerald Schreiber, of Columbus, was sentenced in federal court in Omaha on Friday. He was convicted for mail fraud and making false statements. Schreiber will serve five months in prison with a three-year term of supervised release after. There is no parole in the federal system. Schreiber has to pay $138,184 in restitution.

Officials said Schreiber filled out fraudulent applications to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of the Farm Service Agency’s 2018 market facilitation program. Schreiber falsified the number of hogs he had at his farms on two applications.

According to court documents, Schreiber said that he had 9,079 hogs on one of the applications which led to the USDA mailing Schreiber $72,631. On the other application, he said he had 8,194 hogs which led to the USDA mailing Schreiber $65,682.

Authorities said both of Schreiber's farms had far less hogs than Schreiber claimed. By inflating the number of hogs, Schreiber got more money than he was entitled to. Once he received the larger payments, he deposited them into checking accounts.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.