Lake Charles Man Gets Prison Time In Fertilizer Case

A 70-year-old Lake Charles man who bilked the state by overbilling for fertilizer sold to prison farms has been sentenced to spend six months behind bars and pay $247,000 in restitution.
Wallace "Gene" Fletcher pleaded guilty last year to federal fraud charges in connection with contracts his farm-supply company had in 2004 and 2005 to provide several tons of fertilizer to Prison Enterprises, an agency within the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections that oversees prison farm operations.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty sentenced Fletcher Thursday in Lafayette.