Kansas man defrauds local ranchers

Two Crook County ranchers fell victim to the scams of a Kansas man who was sentenced for wire fraud last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.

Jory Parks will serve five years of probation and has been ordered to pay back over $100,000 to his victims from a scheme in which he sold – but never delivered – large quantities of hay.

“The victims’ desperation in this case was central to the success of Parks’ fraud scheme,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin D. Hargrove in a sentencing memorandum.

Parks’ scheme took place in the summer of 2021, when ranchers across the reg...