A Texas man has been sentenced in Charlotte, North Carolina, for his role in a multi-state livestock fraud scheme that resulted in over $400,000 in losses, federal officials announced Tuesday.
According to U.S. Attorney Ross Ferguson for the Western District of North Carolina, Clint Clifford Sicking, 41, of Muenster, Texas, conspired with William Dalton Edwards between April 2018 and October 2022 to defraud livestock markets — commonly referred to as sales barns — in multiple states.
Court documents reveal that the pair purchased more than 750 head of cattle from livestock auctions in North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, and Virginia, paying with fraudulent checks. They then transported the cattle out of state and sold them in Texas and Oklahoma, profiting from the illegal sales while leaving the original sales barns to cover the costs.
Because sales barns are typically family-owned businesses and are required to pay sellers immediately after the sale, the scam left them financially responsible — resulting in major losses.
Sicking pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and to impeding the USDA’s Packers and Stockyards Division, which regulates fair livestock marketing.
He was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. In addition, Sicking was ordered to pay $406,707 in restitution to the affected livestock markets. He remains free on bond and will report to federal prison once designated.
