STERLING—The owner of Palmer Equipment LLC, a farm-equipment business based in Sterling, has been indicted on federal charges of defrauding 25 victims out of $1.2 million and causing $500,000 in losses for an unnamed financial institution.
The indictment of Ryan Palmer, whose family has been in the farm-equipment repair and sales business for a couple of generations, was filed by Jay Winward, U.S. assistant attorney based in St. George, and unsealed about a week ago.
According to the indictment, the fraudulent activity began in 2017. Palmer is charged with bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
The indictment states Palmer delivered defective equipment to a number of buyers and altered or removed serial numbers on equipment before selling it.
According to the indictment, in several cases, Palmer offered to sell farm equipment for others on consignment. Then he represented to one or more financial institutions that he owned the equipment and used it for collateral on loans.
In at least one case, according to the indictment, he never paid back the loan, sold the equipment and never paid the owner who had consigned the equipment to him.
The wire fraud charge arose because, according to the indictment, Palmer transferred money from a loan obtained by fraud to another financial institution.
He was charged with money laundering because he allegedly transferred funds from fraudulent loans and sales to various bank accounts.
He was scheduled to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Kohler in St. George on Tuesday (after press time).
