Darren Wade Tronson Concealed Material Fact, Buxton ND, 2023

Fargo – In a shocking case of crop insurance fraud, 59-year-old Darren Wade Tronson of Buxton, North Dakota, has been sentenced to one year of probation for concealing a material fact in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Government of the United States.

United States Attorney Mac Schneider announced that Chief Judge Peter D. Welte, United States District Court, District of North Dakota, sentenced Tronson to one year of probation for the crime. Imposition of the sentence against Tronson resolves the final pending case related to him and his potato farming operation, which included three civil cases and one criminal case.

As part of the resolution of the four cases, Tronson will forgo a $272,365 crop insurance indemnity payment for 2019, pay $10,000 restitution to the United States in connection with the settlement of his 2017 and 2018 potato claims, be barred from participation in all federal programs for ten years, and serve one year of supervised probation.

Investigation revealed that in 2017 through 2019, Tronson planted potatoes in Grand Forks and Traill Counties, North Dakota, and purchased yield-based multi-peril crop insurance policies for potatoes through his insurer. Tronson claimed significant losses in all three years due to alleged adverse weather events.

In February 2019, after anomalous losses in 2017 and 2018, Tronson’s crop insurance provider met with him and stressed the need for Tronson to use agricultural experts and a soil fertility plan as part of general good farming practices to qualify for the payment for any losses under a federal crop insurance policy.

However, Tronson did not follow through with the recommendations and instead tried to conceal the actual cause of his potato crop loss in 2019, resulting in the criminal charge. Tronson suffered a loss for his 2019 potato crop, and Tronson made a claim under his crop insurance policy based on precipitation alone.

“Crop insurance fraud is a serious crime that hurts taxpayers and honest producers,” Schneider said. “This result is a reminder that fraud will be exposed, investigated, and dealt with criminally and civilly. The USDA Office of Inspector General and our office’s career prosecutors and civil litigators deserve credit for their tireless efforts to bring this case to justice.”

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