Delhi farmer named in suit

A Delhi farmer has been accused of forgery, check kiting and money laundering as part of a lawsuit filed by his business associates.
Thomas A. Dickerson of Dickerson and Radar Ridge Planting Co., were named as defendants in a petition filed in March 1 in Fifth Judicial District Court by Agrifund LLC, along with numerous other farming enterprises attorneys claim were controlled by Dickerson.
“Dickerson owned, controlled and/or operated the Dickerson Entities without regard to any ‘corporate’ formalities, such that the legal fiction of the Dickerson Entities as separate juridical persons (i.e., corporations, limited liability companies or partnerships) may be disregarded,” the suit claims. “Dickerson controlled and operated the Dickerson Entities so as to make each a mere alter ego of himself and to make each a mere instrumentality or adjunct of the other.”
The suit also alleges Dickerson was aided in this endeavor by Delhi CPA Lawrence Pickett Jr. and Monroe Tax Preparer David Stevens. The lawsuit claims these acts led to damages against many of the people Dickerson did business with as he moved money around for his own benefit.
“In preparation for the 2015 farming season, Pickett and Stevens conspired with Dickerson to organize various farming entities, including certain of the Dickerson Entities, to engage in improper, fraudulent and deceptive acts and practices with respect to the acquisition of crop loans, the conduct of the operations of the entities, the sale of crops produced and the allocation and disbursement of the proceeds from the sale of these crops,” court documents claim.
Examples of the claims in the lawsuit are that “Pickett and/or Stephens, re-activated High Flyers, Inc., without the knowledge, consent or authorization of its owner or officer, William J. Casiday, who was also a former Dickerson employee. Thereafter, Dickerson controlled and operated High Flyers, Inc. using Casiday’s tax identification number as part of his overall scheme to defraud creditors, including Agrifund, kite checks, launder money and abscond with proceeds from crops he had pledged to secure various loans for the Dickerson Entities, all as set forth herein.”
The suit also claims Dickerson filed documents with the Louisiana Secretary of State to add Scott and Theresa Higdon as partners in Dickerson Agricultural Partnership. According to pleadings filed by the Higdons, this was done without their knowledge, consent or authorization.
According to the suit, the Higdons further assert that Dickerson submitted fraudulent documents to the Farm Services Agency in order for Dickerson Agricultural Partnership to participate in government farm programs and federal crop insurance programs.
The Higdons also contend that Dickerson forged their signatures to loan documents with Franklin State Bank & Trust Company in order to obtain a 2015 crop loan from Franklin State Bank for Dickerson Agricultural Partnership, that he forged their signatures to open an account with Crop Production Services and that he forged their signatures to obtain a market assistance loan from Commodity Credit Corporation, all on behalf of Dickerson Agricultural Partnership.
The suit also claims that Dickerson further conspired with Clark McCain and Franklin State Bank & Trust Company, Brian Wilson and Caldwell Bank & Trust Company and Commercial Capital Bank, individually at different times in order to further his overall scheme.
“These defendants were willing participants in Dickerson’s scheme, each striving to earn more of Dickerson’s business and profit from extending large agricultural loans that would produce lucrative profits for them in the form of attractive loan fees and interest, and each willing to actively, passively, directly and indirectly facilitate Dickerson’s illegal actions, including cashing forged instruments, negotiating instruments to which he had no lawful right, converting third-party checks to Cashier’s Checks, thus laundering funds to conceal their true source and thereby deprive those who had a legal right to the proceeds, including Agrifimd, which had a perfected security interest in the crops that were the subject of its loan, kite checks and allow Dickerson to accumulate exorbitant negative account balances, extend bogus loans to help DiCkerson conceal his illicit scheme, paper the files with false letters and memos to attempt to cloak with legitimacy Dickerson’s illegal activities,” attorneys for the plaintiffs claim in court documents.
The suit claims from September 2015 through December 2015 Dickerson used various Franklin State Bank checking accounts almost exclusively as pass-through accounts to kite money between the accounts at Franklin State Bank and Dickerson’s and the Dickerson Entities’ accounts at other financial institutions, primarily Commercial Capital Bank and Caldwell Bank & Trust Company.
The banks are also accused of allowing Dickerson to carry negative balances on his accounts during this time.
The lawsuit only expresses the point of view of the people suing Dickerson in civil court and no criminal charges have been filed against Dickerson or any of the people alleged to have helped him in his endeavors.