Montana Rancher Receives Probation and Fined for BLM Scheme
A Montana rancher was sentenced to four years of probation, fined $35,000 and ordered to pay $143,714 in restitution last week after pleading guilty in January to mail fraud in connection with grazing cattle on Bureau of Land Management range.
In court documents, the government claimed that between 2017 and 2020, Gene John Klamert, 71, held a BLM grazing permit for public land near Minnett. The permit authorized Klamert to graze his own cattle, or other people’s cattle if he reported them to BLM and paid a surcharge for custom grazing.
In 2017 the BLM discovered Klamert underreporting cattle and when confronted, Klamert admitted grazing 100 cattle that did not belong to him and that he did not report. Court documents say Klamert actually grazed at least 620 cattle that he failed to report and thereby avoided paying the required surcharge.
Despite being warned by BLM, prosecutors allege Klamert continued misreporting cattle numbers the next three seasons. In order to avoid the surcharge for custom grazing, Klamert submitted to the BLM fake bills of sale purporting to have purchased 1,515 head of cattle between 2018 and 2020. The fraudulent bills of sale enabled Klamert to avoid paying $65,612 in surcharge fees. Klamert also defrauded the BLM by continuing to graze other people’s cattle that he simply never reported.
In total, Klamert grazed more than 2,000 cattle that did not report, avoiding an additional $78,884 in surcharges to the BLM. Klamert defrauded BLM of a total of $144,497. He paid back $782 after his reprimand in 2017, bringing the fraud loss to $143,714.
