Hay scam hits Wyoming and Montana ranchers
Sometimes the victims of one man’s scams and bad intentions aren’t actually people at all — victims can be places, too.
Such is the case with the west Kansas town of Logan.
Already well-known as the cow and calf capital of the Prairie State, Logan is making headlines differently these days.
Jory Parks, who has ties to Logan and plans to return there, according to court records, has been convicted of scamming Wyoming and Montana ranchers out of hay and cash.
U.S. District Court in Billings, Mont., sentenced Parks in November. Parks was sentenced to five years probation and to pay $100,000 in restitution to his victims.
Parks, court officials said, maliciously exploited the trust and the desperate circumstances of five Wyoming and Montana ranchers who needed hay in the drought year of 2021. Parks was operating his own trucking company at the time, and used the business for his con, taking money for transporting hay he never delivered as ranchers struggled to feed their cattle on dryland pasture.
Parks used social media and more to request down payments for shipments that never arrived.
UNWELCOME RETURN
Now that Parks has been ordered to pay restitution as part of his probation agreement, sources say Parks may face trouble getting work upon his return. News of the conviction has reached the town which is close knit and primarily hires in agriculture.
“Logan is an ag based community,” says Jim Ashmore, a farmer and native of the area. “Logan is a clean town, a very nice town. People are nice and people are genuine. It’s a great community.”
Logan has approximately 500 residents, many of whom have lived in the community for generations. Picking up where he left off may not be so easy for Parks now that he has a criminal conviction on his record.
His return concerns Sundance, Wyo., rancher Katalina Pfeil, one of Parks’ victims in the case.
“I do not believe for a minute that he will ever pay anyone,” Pfeil said. “I mean, who’s going to hire him?”
Parks has been ordered to pay Pfeil approximately $38,000 in restitution, making Pfeil the largest victim in the scam. The $38,000 figure represents Pfeil’s original losses from 2021 along with the cost of replacement hay.
Pfeil testified that she hired Parks to transport hay she had already purchased out of state, and when she followed up, she found that Parks had sold much of the load to a hay broker. In the end, Pfeil received roughly half of the hay she had paid for.
Pfeil remembers the time as frightening. She was pregnant with her first child and feeling overwhelmed with her circumstances. “I went from being very comfortable and happy and excited about my pregnancy to being completely devastated. Am I going to have somewhere to live? Will I be able to put diapers on my kid? All because of the things that one evil man did and who had absolutely no problem taking all that money.”
Pfeil ranches with her father, Wes Butts. The ranch is still feeling the sting of Parks’ actions, Pfeil said. Costly bloodlines established through AI were lost as Pfeil and her father reduced the herd by about 25 percent in order to make ends meet.
There were other impacts to be endured. “I put all of my life savings into that hay. It completely changed my life and then not only the original loss, but also I had to double down on my debt just to feed the cows for that winter.”
MORE VICTIMS
Pfeil met Parks through social media, and she is also using social media to help other victims. Believing Parks to have committed many schemes over time, Pfeil established a private Facebook group, hoping to network with other victims. Today the group nets 500 members from around the country, all of whom claim to have been swindled by Parks.
“This man’s been a lot of places, so I’m certain there are more people out there,” Pfeil said. “We just haven’t found them.”
The Facebook group helped the FBI find the 2021 victims in Montana who were part of the case adjudicated in November, Pfeil said.
The effort to hold Parks accountable is ongoing.
“Ultimately what we’re doing is keeping a database. A lot of his victims were from construction.”
Fraud victims who network and work together may stand a better chance of being made whole, Pfeil said. “The FBI told us that they will not even investigate if the damages are not $100,000 or more.”
Seeing the original case through is something Pfeil strongly believes in.
“I was the only one to show up to court when he was sentenced. The U.S. attorney and the FBI agent on my case requested to see me there. They said that the stress and embarrassment that victims of fraud feel can keep them from coming to court. It really hurt my heart to hear that.”
After what has happened to her, Pfeil advised other ranchers not to prepay for hay or to make down payments unless they know the producer personally.
“I can’t blame a farmer for wanting his hay paid for as soon as it leaves. I always deal with people that I trust.”
The Pfeil ranch has been in the family since the 1890s, with the ranch dating back to family members who were homesteaders. “I am sixth generation and my son is seventh.”
Good management is helping the ranch recover from the scam.
“You work to find the best deals. You keep rotating pasture as you can. And we are looking at different feed alternatives, too.”
All in all, the cows are doing well.
“These girls, they look very good for what they’ve been through.”
Pfeil still loves what she does and finds her work gives her time with her son who is 2 1/2 now and enjoys helping with ranch chores.
“I couldn’t ask for anything better, even through all the hardships.”
Dedication to farm and ranch is a sentiment that is familiar to Ashmore and others in Logan.
“This country is all dryland. It’s pretty much ‘Plant and pray.'”
Speaking from the wheel of his combine — “This time of year, it’s my office until the wheels fall off” — Ashmore described Logan as having a quality grocery store, good schools and a setting that is surrounded by family farms.
Ashmore has many stories to tell about his hometown, but one story that sticks in his mind most is how people remembered his grandmother when she passed away during COVID. Unable to visit the woman’s hospital room due to restrictions in the name of public health, Ashmore and his immediate family were on the way to the woman’s funeral when they encountered an unforgettable sight.
“The people of the town,” Ashmore said with a catch in his voice, “they were lined up and down Main Street, there to pay their respects as we went through.”
At the end of the day, Logan will find a way to deal with Parks and any blemish that he cast on the town.
Ashmore calls on the memory of the day of his grandmother’s funeral as a testimonial to Logan’s core. “It just tells you who these people are …We make the best of things.”
