A man convicted of stealing more than $150,000 in hay from a farmer in Yolo County has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Dale Edward McMihelk, a Valley Springs hay broker, was convicted in February of swindling Woodland farmer Ken Gregory out of 30,000 bales of hay. Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg placed McMihelk on probation and ordered him to pay $211,000 in restitution.
Since then, McMihelk has made only $2,800 in payments to Gregory, despite tax records that revealed McMihelk had gross income of $631,00 in 2008, according to a news release from the Yolo County District Attorney's Office. On Thursday, Judge Rosenberg found McMihelk in violation of his probation and sentenced him to prison.
"It is particularly offensive that Mr. McMihelk continued to walk free and cheat the victim of his lawfully entitled restitution for years after his original crimes," Deputy District Attorney Rob Gorman said in a written statement. "The prison sentence in this case finally sends a clear message that serious agricultural crimes will not be ignored or trivialized in our community."
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