WASHINGTON, March 12, 2010- A cooperative investigation between USDA and Texas authorities has resulted in the successful prosecution of a Texas man for misrepresenting non-organic products as organic.
Basilio Coronado, a partner in Sel-Cor Bean and Pea Inc., operating out of Brownfield, Texas, was convicted February 26, 2010 of fraudulently selling products as organic. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division, sentenced Coronado to 24 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release and to pay $523,692.08 in restitution. Coronado is barred from participating in any USDA or other agriculture programs for five years.
In August 2006, the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), which is an accredited certifying agent (ACA) under the NOP, forwarded its investigation report to USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). The report documented that Coronado was selling non-organic pinto beans, garbanzo beans, milo and soybeans labeled as organic.
TDA also submitted copies of the report to the FBI and the Terry County District Attorney's Office in Brownfield, Texas. The FBI forwarded the information to USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), which then opened a criminal investigation. In April 2009, the OIG issued its final report and informed AMS that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Lubbock, Texas, had accepted the case for prosecution.
On Aug. 12, 2009, Coronado was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on three counts of false statements and documents. The three counts concerned the 2004 and 2005 time frames when Coronado knowingly misrepresented and sold over 3.3 million pounds of conventional milo (grain sorghum), 396,120 pounds of conventional pinto beans, and 60,410 pounds of conventional garbanzo beans. Coronado pleaded guilty in Nov. 2009.