A federal grand jury has indicted a Strasburg man, a man formerly of Farmersville and nine others involved in the tobacco industry. They are charged with conspiracies involving more than $4.5 million.

The case apparently alleges the buying of cheap tobacco here and the illegal resale of it in Tennessee and possibly other southern states for a great profit, according to a former local tobacco auction manager familiar with the investigation.

According to a June 21 indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, the conspiracies occurred between December 1998 and April 2003, when the price farmers received here for their tobacco was generally at or near all-time lows.

Charged were Clarence W. Shirk of Beavertown, Pa., and formerly of Farmersville, Kenneth A. Swayne of Strasburg, Robert D. Oldham of Nashville, Tenn., Christopher L. Sutton of Ayden, N.C., Joey Bowen of Winterville, N.C., Ronald D. Bowen of Ayden, N.C., Bobby C. Cates of Lexington, Ky., Garth E. Middaugh of Lafayette, Tenn., and Rennie Turner of Winterville, N.C.,

All seven are charged with conspiring to structure transactions involving more than $4.5 million with financial institutions in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Kentucky, for the purpose of evading a requirement that transactions of $10,000 or more be reported to the federal government.

Posted: 08|30|06 at 8:21 am. Filed under: US News.