Laidlaw sentenced to prison

Judge also orders $3 million restitution

William Laidlaw, a Carey beekeeper, has been sentenced to 28 months in prison without the possibility of parole for making false statements to obtain federal loans, a felony.

Laidlaw was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Boise.

According to assistant U.S. attorney Jack Haycock, Laidlaw was also ordered to pay the government more than $3 million in restitution. Laidlaw had defaulted on loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that he had obtained by falsely claiming to have 5.5 million pounds of honey as collateral.

Laidlaw pleaded guilty to the charges in September.

The USDA’s inspector general, Roger Viadero, said the default was the largest loss ever suffered by the honey price-support loan program.

Haycock said Laidlaw is scheduled to begin his sentence Dec. 30. He said prosecutors recommended that he be sent to a federal prison in Sheridan, Ore.

Haycock said Laidlaw will be on a three-year-long supervised release after that, during which time he will be expected to pay as much of the restitution as possible.