2 Northwest Louisiana men admit to diverting $2M from chicken plant

SHREVEPORT, La. -- Two Northwest Louisiana men have admitted to a scheme to divert more than $2 million in business away from a chicken processing plant in Bienville Parish. William Ross Hickman, 48, of Arcadia, and Brian K. Whiteman, 47, of Haughton, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit fraud against the U.S. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote will sentence the men at 9:30 a.m. July 12. Both face up to five years in prison. The government said Hickman and Whiteman participated in a scheme to defraud Arcadia-based Raeford Farms of Louisiana, beginning in 2018. Hickman was employed as the sales manager and Whiteman was the assistant sales manager of their Arcadia production plant. Raeford Farms sells various products including fresh and frozen chicken and chicken frames, which is the core of the chicken that remains after processing the breasts, thighs, wings and legs. Hickman negotiated the sale of these chicken products seeking the highest possible return when selling them. Hickman used Group 7792 as an intermediary to purchase chicken frames from Raeford Farms. Through his position he provided favorable sales terms to other entities to the detriment of Raeford Farms. Hickman had a pre-arranged agreement with an unnamed individual and his corporation to sell the chicken frames to Heritage Food Sales, which was another company controlled by Hickman. Heritage paid Group 7792 a guaranteed return for each transaction but never took possession of the chicken frames or added anything of value to the transaction. Hickman would then sell the same chicken frames to a poultry wholesaler in Chattanooga, Tenn., for profit. To further the scheme, Hickman and others acting in concert with him, sent invoices by email from Arcadia through interstate commerce, for Heritage to receive payment for the chicken frames. Hickman and Whiteman conspired together to conceal the involvement of Heritage from Raeford Farms in these chicken frame transactions. As assistant sales manager for Raeford Farms, Whiteman was responsible for tracking inventory and the details regarding all shipments. Whiteman provided this type of information to Hickman to further the conspiracy in order to get a higher price for chicken frame loads sold by Heritage. In exchange for his participation in the conspiracy, Whiteman understood and agreed with Hickman that Heritage would pay him through his own business entity, All Trade Enterprise, LLC. Hickman would pay Whiteman a monthly commission through All Trade and occasionally to him personally. The transactions conducted during the time period of this investigation resulted in an approximate loss of $2,183,950 to Raeford Farms. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Alexander C. Van Hook, special counsel to U.S. Attorney Brandon Brown and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tennille M. Gilreath.