Iowa Residents Sentenced for South Dakota Farm Loan Fraud

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Two Iowa residents have been ordered to serve probation and pay back more than $300,000 for submitting false applications for farm loan payments made eligible to wool producers.

Fifty-nine-year-old Reena Slominski and 62-year-old Howard "Jack" Aleff, both of Knoxville, Iowa, were charged in the South Dakota district of federal court with conspiracy to defraud the government.

Authorities say Slominski and Aleff prepared and submitted 132 false applications for loan deficiency payments for sheep that were never sheared.

U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann ordered both defendants to serve five years of probation and pay back nearly $304,000 in join restitution.

Aleff was fined $40,000 and Slominski $20,000.