Malta man faces possible prison time after admitting to stealing over $270k from employer

A Malta man faces up to 20 years in prison and restitution payments of approximately $270,000 following a guilty plea to eight counts of felony theft in Phillips County District Court.

Emil Martin Lundstrom was charged with the felony counts in district court on July 7, and entered the guilty plea following a plea agreement with the attorney for Phillips County. In a plea agreement, Lundstrom acknowledged that he had been charged with the eight counts of felony theft and “will plead guilty because he is in fact guilty of the charge.”

In a letter dated August 19, 2016, CHS Inc’s, senior attorney notified the Phillips County Attorney about the alleged thefts made by Lundstrom. The letter stated that Lundstrom had been employed at CHS (the company located just east of Malta) from September 20, 2007, until August 4, 2016, as the facility’s manager. The letter stated that on August 4, 2016, Lundstrom admitted to stealing $30,000 worth of CHS products — Urea Fertilizer and RT3 crop protection chemical — and selling them to members of the Loring Hutterite Colony. The letter states that Lundstrom had admitted to the theft both verbally and in writing to his superiors.

On August 25, 2016, a Phillips County Sheriff’s deputy interviewed an employee at CHS. The CHS employee stated that they had been contacted by a member of the Loring Colony claiming that Lundstrom had been selling CHS inventory after hours to members of the Loring Colony and knew of at least one check being written to Lundstrom to pay for goods received in July 2016 for a total of $5,500. The colony member said that on at least one occasion he saw a colony truck leaving the CHS plant located east of Malta. He said that Lundstrom requested that the trucks leave the CHS plant before securing their loads and that they would meet at the Westside truck stop in Malta for payment.

The colony member said that he had told his father about talking to the CHS employee and his father was upset and the colony member decided to no longer provide any more information on the cast at the point.

The Phillips County Sheriff’s deputy then interviewed an employee at CHS and the employee stated there had always been shortages of inventory.

In September 2016, the Phillips County Sheriff’s deputy served search warrants at a Malta bank. The search warrant was for bank accounts owned by the Loring Hutterian Brethren, Inc., formerly known as the Loring Colony and the East Malta Hutterian Brethren, Inc., formerly known as East Malta Colony, as well as for Lundstrom’s bank accounts.

The following day, the Phillips County Sheriff’s deputy retrieved information through the search warrants which showed 27 different checks written to Lundstrom between June 27, 2014, and June 7, 2016. The memo line of all but one of the checks indicated that it was for the purchase of agricultural products, such as fertilizer and chemical. Lundstrom does not operate his own agricultural service company and would not have the ability to provide tens of thousands of dollars worth of fertilizer and chemical to a customer, the court documents state. He would have had to take in those products from his employer, CHS. CHS did not receive any money for the fertilizer and chemical on these 27 occasions.

As a result of the plea agreement and Lundstrom’s guilty plea, the Phillips County Attorney agrees to recommend that Lundstrom be committed to the department of corrections for no more than five years plus a period of suspended time not to exceed 20 years. Lundstrom will also be required to pay restitution and if he continues to cooperate with the county attorney and the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office, Lundstrom will not be charged with any further crimes against CHS that are discovered as a result of his cooperation (though new amounts could be added to his restitution total.)

“The monies stolen from CHS would have otherwise been sent to local producers in the form of patronage over the past several years, this was $270,000 stolen from our customers," CHS told the Phillips County News in a written statement.

Lundstrom will next appear in court for sentencing at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, September 26 at the Phillips County Courthouse. In the meantime, the Department of Corrections, Community Corrections Division, will prepare a presentence investigation concerning Lundstrom and Lundstrom shall cooperate with his probation officer, shall remain on his own recognizance (the conditions of the release state that Lundstrom must remain law abiding, keep in contact with his attorney and make all court appearances.) Lundstrom’s out of state travel for business purposes are not restricted, but he was required to sign a waiver of extradition.