Columbus Co. man sentenced to 11 years for crop insurance fraud

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A federal judge today sentenced a Columbus County man to more than a decade in prison for crop insurance fraud.

Milton Russ Barnhill got an 11-year sentence after pleading guilty last year as his trial was set to begin. The judge also sentenced him to three years supervised released and ordered Barnhill to make restitution of more than $2.5 million to various federal programs and the Horry County State Bank. Barnhill must also forfeit the money he made from the crimes.

Prosecutors say Barnhill produced crops that he sold in the name of other people. They say he and others then reported on insurance claims that the crops were lost due to natural disasters. They say he also placed crops and insurance policies under the names of conspirators to boost the amount of money he could collect on the insurance claims. The false claims earned him more than $1 million from federal crop insurance.

Barnhill also got $450,000 from Horry County State Bank from fraudulent loan proceeds, the US Attorney’s Office says.

Investigators say Barnhill used some of the money he got through the fraud to produce more crops in the names of conspirators, who he also got to file false insurance claims.